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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24655972">Hey now, you're a brawl star!</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queenbookerly/pseuds/Queenbookerly'>Queenbookerly</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Where the Carnival Glows Bright (You May Just Find a New Home) [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Brawl Stars (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Abuse, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Discrimination, Hurt/Comfort, Jacky (Brawl Stars) Swears a Lot, Minor Character Death, Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 03:54:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>25,240</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24655972</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queenbookerly/pseuds/Queenbookerly</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>While Brawl Stars itself chooses to focus on the overarching storyline, I'm going to take a crack at the individual Brawler's backstories! So stay tuned!</p>
<p><strong>Major arcs</strong><br/>Retropolis arc- 1-11<br/>Southern arc- 12-16<br/><strong>Minor arcs</strong><br/>Bull- 1-5<br/>Bibi- 6+7<br/>Crow- 8-10<br/>Piper- 12,13,15,16<br/>Rico- 14</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Piper (Brawl Stars)/ Rico (Brawl stars)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Where the Carnival Glows Bright (You May Just Find a New Home) [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2083455</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Bull arc chapter one</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>TRIGGERS: child abuse, swearing, very brief hospital, courtrooms? Is that a trigger? Imma go with yes.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>  He was seven when his father was arrested. </p>
<p>  The man had requested a particularly hard meal for dinner that night, and his mother was still at work, so he was forced to make the bastard dinner. </p>
<p>  He had ordered a bacon burger, which was definitely inside the skill range of a seven year old. Brady pulled out a stool and the necessary ingredients and equipment, rolled up his sleeves, and got to work.</p>
<p>  As he always did, Brady's father hovered over his shoulder while he cooked, to make sure Brady didn't tamper with the food. Brady had a single burger cooking on the griddle pan ( he and his mother would be having grilled cheese if he made this well, dried fruit from Mom's stash if he didn't) and a few slices of bacon  frying on a smaller pan on the next burner over. </p>
<p>  Anytime he thought about that night, he would say that shit hit the fan when he tried to salt the burger.</p>
<p>  "What're ya doin with that, brat?" His father asked as he reached over the bacon pan to grab the salt shaker. Brady whipped around in surprise (fear) and by doing so, simultaneously dropped the salt on his father's foot and slammed the handle of the bacon pan, causing the hot meat and hotter grease to go flying. Most of it landed on Brady himself, but a few drops that particularly disliked the boy flung themselves onto the forehead of the man picking up the salt shaker.</p>
<p>  The reaction was immediate and harsh.</p>
<p>  "YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Brady's father screamed, grabbing the hood of his sweatshirt (my hoodie!) and yanking him off the stool he was standing on. Brady scrambled backwards towards the wall (get away from the stove away from fire) in an attempt to postpone the inevitable. </p>
<p>  The first kick landed just below the center of his ribs.</p>
<p>  He couldn't make a sound, that would make the beating worse. Instead, he prayed. Wide-eyes and desperate, the boy prayed that his father wouldn't use his belt or, heaven forbid, one of the still hot pans. </p>
<p>  He sat through five more harsh kicks before his father made his way towards the stove.</p>
<p>  Luck hadn't completely abandoned him, because his father picked up the cooler of the two pans, which had been laying on the floor since the beating started.</p>
<p>  "I'll teach you to try to hurt me, you ungrateful fucker." His father was gripping the handle so hard that Brady feared the cheap plastic covering would crack and fall off of the metal it covered. Then he would really be screwed.</p>
<p>  The first hit hurt the worst. His father had hit him square in the temple, and the pan was still hot enough for it to burn. Brady put his hands up to protect himself, but his father hit them away, aiming for a piece of bacon still sticking to an exposed forearm and hitting the burn underneath, and taking the other wrist head on, breaking it with ease. Brady dropped his arms and resumed his prayers.</p>
<p>  By the time Mom walked in, his father had been beating him for half an hour, occasionally throwing in insults. </p>
<p>  "UPSTAIRS, BITCH!"  His father roared when he saw her. She bolted up the steps , and Brady heard the door to her bedroom closing. Ten minutes later, just as his father was deciding that he had done enough, the police showed up. Brady would later find out that his mother had brought her phone upstairs, which she wasn't allowed to do, and called the police.</p>
<p>  "FREEZE!" Three officers swarmed into his house, shouting things at his father. Brady took the opportunity to close his eyes.</p>
<p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong>Time skip brought to you by pain meds and blackouts</strong>
  </span>
</p>
<p>  The next time Brady opened his eyes, his mother was asleep next to his bed.</p>
<p>  But this wasn't his room. The walls were white, not creme, and there were pictures hanging in several places.</p>
<p> "Brady?" Mom rubbed her eyes and sat up, trying to wake herself up.<br/> "Hi mom," He replied, smiling at her. She grabbed the hand that he didn't have in a cast (when?) and gave it a squeeze.<br/> "How you feeling, kiddo?" She tried to give him an encouraging smile, but it turned watery and worried. It still made him feel better. <br/> "Like I got hit by a Rachel Ray Commercial," Mom chuckled a bit at that. "Where's father?" </p>
<p>  He couldn't have killed the mood faster if he had had a knife.</p>
<p>  Mom sighed, rubbed her forehead, and put her other hand on his. <br/> "Your father was arrested," he froze, not believing what he heard. Then his smile found it's way back onto his face.<br/>"Good."</p>
<p>  The days leading up to the trial progressed relatively quickly. Within a few days, Mom had gotten a lawyer, and the lawyer had assembled a case.</p>
<p>  When he asked Mom how you buy a lawyer, she replied with "sell your soul," so Brady decided that they came in little capsules that you put in hot water to make them open.</p>
<p>  The trial was quick, too. Mom's lawyer asked him some questions, then dad's lawyer asked him some questions, then he went and sat back with his mom. After the lawyers asked mom some questions and the court went to recess (which involved a suspicious lack of playground equipment) the verdict was delivered: guilty. His father would serve a life sentence in prison.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Yes, people salt their burgers. My dad does.  Also, wanted to let y'all know this is crossposted to fanfiction.net. Thank you, p!ease keep reading, and goodnight!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Bull arc chapter two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The saga continues and there is sushi</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TRIGGER WARNINGS: a bit of a shouting match, my shoddy knowledge of both clash royale and mental trauma</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><br/>
it was a little more than a week after the trial when his teacher made him go to the tutoring lab for the first time.  According to Mrs. Doddly, he was slacking off in his handwriting assignments and was getting terrible grades in his catch up work. It was a bit hard to write when his dominant hand was in a cast, and his teacher was taking points off of all his assignments for neatness, so he really did need help.</p><p>Enter Crow. </p><p>The fifth grader sauntered into the classroom as if he owned the place. He wore a ratty zip-up and a rattier pair of jeans, which were tucked into a strangely immaculate pair of combat boots. Topping off the outfit was a pair of black gloves. When the older boy saw him, he jogged over to the table he was seated at.</p><p> "Hey! Brady Trankston, right?" Brady nodded and fiddled with the edge of the cast. His doctor had told him not to, but it was better than fidgeting with the bandages covering his burn.</p><p> The older boy nodded and pulled up a chair.</p><p> "Well, my name's Lester, but you can call me Crow. Everyone does. You know, 'cuz, caw?" Brady looked up at that and noticed that the boy had the head of a bird. What he had previously thought were gloves were just feathers.</p><p>Oh.</p><p>He was a brawler.</p><p>One of those mysterious fighters he saw on tv. He had heard they could look like quite literally anything.</p><p>Including, apparently, a bird man.</p><p>Crow chuckled when he saw Brady staring. Everyone did, so he didn't mind. </p><p> "I'm surprised you didn't notice when I walked in. Now, what do you need help with?" </p><p> "Stupid Mrs. Doddly is basically flunking me for neatness. Plus, I just had ta take some time off and I can't catch up,"</p><p> Crow glanced at his arm (time off is an understatement kid) and nodded. "Yeah, I didn't like her much when I had her for class. Let's get to it!"</p><p> <span class="u"><strong>Time skip brought to you by a mutual hatred of math</strong></span></p><p> After the duo had finished all of Brady's assignments (a process which had come with many insults to the concept of basic multiplication and more than one 'nice piece of work!' from Crow) Brady started to pack up. Which is when Crow asked the dreaded question.</p><p> "Hey kid, you do seem like an 'I fell out of a tree' kind of guy. How'd you break your arm?"</p><p> Brady froze. </p><p> He cycled between (<em>Well he's in jail he can't get mad at me</em>) and (<em>I don't want people to know!</em>) for a good thirty seconds before he settled. That strange judge of character that all children possessed liked Crow.</p><p> "It was my dad."</p><p> "Dang, kid!" He did not expect Crow to sound impressed. " If your dad is built like you, most adults couldn't take a beating from him! You're strong like a bull, ain't you?" Crow paused for a secong, then suddenly snapped his fingers. "That's what I'll call you! Bull!" <strike>Bull</strike> Brady spluttered.</p><p> "Why?" Crow gave him a smile that shouldn't be possible with a beak.</p><p> "If you told me about him, you just got him out of your life. New name, New you!" He grabbed <strike>Bull</strike> Brady's shoulder and puffed out his chest. "I've found it works flawlessly!" <strike>Bull</strike> Brady giggled a bit.</p><p> When Bull left the tutoring lab that day, he felt better than he had in a long time.</p><p><br/>
 <br/>
  One would not expect a seven year old to befriend a boy three years his senior, but that's exactly what happened. Crow began sleeping over nearly every weekend, and Bull was introduced to Crow's gang, a group of older boys who, according to Crow, 'took care of each other'. He was adopted into the group rather quickly, and every few days one of the members would check on Bull and Crow, who had taken to walking Bull home from school.<br/>
 <br/>
 It was after Crow had walked him home from school nearly a year later that Bull met the man that would flip his world on it's head once again</p><p><br/>
 "Dude, I'm telling you. If you think Prince is a good card, you're either off your rocker, or you ain't playing the game right. P.E.K.K.A dominates him," remarked Crow.</p><p> "And I'm telling you, It took me from challenger 3 to Master 3!. So shut up, go home, and rethink your deck you Horus knock-off!" Spat Bull in rebuttal.</p><p> "I myself prefer Baby Dragon. Air troops are by far superior."</p><p> Both boys turned to look at the new member of the conversation (as anyone who liked Baby Dragon earned both boys' respect) and were met with an average-sized balding man with squinty eyes and a kind smile. He wore a dressy pair of pants and a dress shirt, left unbuttoned to reveal a lilac- colored tee with a simple sketch of an Espeon. The man got down from his seat at a barstool and bowed to the boys.</p><p> "I apologise. It was rude of me to intrude on your conversation when you don't even know my name," he said, standing back up, "I am Mikikazu Tsunematsu."  </p><p> "Cool," Bull replied, almost too nonchalantly, "I'm Bull and that's Crow. Are you taking my mom out for dinner?"</p><p> Mr. Tsunematsu smiled again and walked over to the fridge. </p><p> "Actually, I was going to cook for the three of you. Bull, your mother told me you like grilled food. Is it okay if I make a bit of surf and turf? I brought ingredients for sushi, and your mother told me I could cook up this steak. Crow, do you have a preference?" </p><p> The duo blinked at the sudden onslaught of information. Crow, snapping out of his stupor, mentioning that he didn't know how to use chopsticks. Mr. Tsunematsu assured him that was just fine, he could use a fork. Bull's mom made eye contact with Bull, and the two nearly shared a thought:</p><p>
  <em> I like him.</em>
</p><p>
  <span class="u"> <strong>Time skip brought to you by storgē, even though agapē is cooler</strong> </span>
</p><p>The next night, Bull and his Mom where by side on the couch, watching the ads before the first How To Train Your Dragon movie with bored eyes. </p><p> "Well? What do you think?" His mom asked, referring to Mr. Tsunematsu. Mom had asked his approval of all boyfriends in this very manner, sitting on the couch the night after he met them. The first three had not gained his approval, with complaints ranging from "he smells funny" to "you can NOT date someone who stares at your feet like that" to " he talks like Father". However, tonight, she was hopeful her latest partner would gain the Bull Stamp of Okay.</p><p> "He's really cool."</p><p> She smiled, rubbed Brady's (<em>my Brady he can be Bull to everyone else but he's my Brady</em>) head, and hit play on the select screen of the movie.</p><p>
  <span class="u"> <strong>Montage brought to you by the power of &lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;</strong> </span>
</p><p><br/>
When he was 9, Bull's mom married the man that had quickly become a better father to him than his own. The wedding was beautiful, all his relatives told him that, but he was excited that he got to be the ring bearer.</p><p> A job that involved a suspicious lack of bears.<br/>
 <br/>
 But afterwords, he got to spend the night with the gang! How cool! Mom told him that she and dad were going to make babies without making babies, which was the polite way of saying they were going to screw.</p><p>&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;</p><p>A few months later, the couple had their first fight, an event that left both of the Trankstons (who insisted on going by Michela's maiden name) sobbing. Both Mom and dad had had long days at work, Dad at the restaurant he owned and mom at her law office.</p><p> They had made the mistake of breaching the topic they had purposely been avoiding: children. </p><p>Mom didn't want Bull to have to get accustomed to more new family, but dad didn't want Bull to be an only child. The result was a screaming match that was only resolved when a teary and shaking Bull ran into the living room, screaming at the couple to stop fighting. The subject was dropped and Mikikazu spent the next two days pampering his family. </p><p> &lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt; <br/>
When he was eleven, he found out that he would have a baby sibling. </p><p>His parents had begun laughing in the kitchen while he was doing his homework. </p><p> "Mikikazu, we did it! You're going to be a dad again!"</p><p> Bull froze.</p><p> "Does that mean I'm going to be a brother?" He startled his parents, so they took a bit to answer. </p><p> It was a good answer, if Bull running up to his room to call Crow and promptly running into a wall was anything to go by. </p><p>&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;<br/>
 "Hey baby, I'm your brother," Bull cooed at the small bundle of blankets he held in his arms. His exhausted parents smiled at each other.</p><p> "What's her name? Is it something japanese?" Mikikazu chuckled. </p><p> "Yes, but it doesn't sound like it. Her name is Bibi."</p><p> "Heya Bibi. I'm Brady, but everyone calls me Bull. Except mom. Can I hold her forever?"</p><p> "You won't want to," his mom commented. While this was confusing in itself, Bull was even more confused when his parents handed him a pair of noise cancelling headphones.</p><p> He was grateful for them many times in the following weeks.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>for anyone who cares, the kanji for Mikikazu is 幹和 (Mikikazu) 恒松 (Tsumematsu), and Bibi is びび, which was fun to figure out. This chapter was significantly longer than the last one, and the next one is too. So hope y'all're prepared for that! Thank you, please keep reading, and goodnight.</p><p>P.S. SEND ASKS PLZ</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Bull arc chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Trigger warnings: gun. Unused but visible.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It wasn't until he was twelve that he figured out he was a brawler.</p>
<p>"Yeah, s'all genetics. Apparently, my ancient relatives of something were brawlers, so I got the genes from them." While crow was speaking, Bull was staring at the palms of his hands, which had been feeling... odd for a while now. If he squinted hard enough, sometimes he thought he could see a bright yellow circle with a skull inside imprinted into his skin.</p>
<p>"So, yeah, I can just-" Crow tensed his hands, causing a handful of daggers to appear in each. He held them up, letting a few of the other boys in the gang examine them.</p>
<p>"Hey Crow? Teach me how you did that." Crow looked at Bull, who was glaring at his hands as if they had something to prove. He got up from where he was perched on the railing and went to sit in front of Bull, who was sitting on the ground against the warehouse where the gang conducted business.</p>
<p>"Close your eyes. Yeah, good. Now, it's hard to explain, but you just gotta... Feel the weapon? Just feel it in your hands. You don't have to squint so- holy shit." Bull opened his eyes to see Crow looking between his hands and his face, much like the other gang members. He looked at his hands and saw-</p>
<p>"-a shotgun? Wait, that actually worked?" Crow looked him in the eyes, seemingly trying to decide if Bull was messing with him. He let out a long-suffering sigh and punched the bridge of his beak.</p>
<p>"You didn't know you were a brawler?"</p>
<p>" ... No?"</p>
<p>Crow smiled and shook his head, getting to his feet. He grabbed Bull's arm and pulled him up.</p>
<p>"We're gonna go talk to your folks."</p>
<p>The duo began walking towards the bus stop.</p>
<p>"Hey Crow? How do I make the gun disappear?"</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <span>Time skip brought to you by confusion</span>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>Crow and Bull walked in the door just in time to see Bull's dad attempting to pull pans out of various cupboards with a babbling Bibi on his hip. When the now one-year-old saw them, she smiled.</p>
<p>"Nii-san! Bird-san! Back!"</p>
<p>"Hey, lil' aneki! Want me to hold you?" Bibi responded by making grabby hand at her older brother, who took her from their dad.</p>
<p>"Hello, you two. Bull, would you like to help me make dinner? I'm sure Crow would be glad to hang out with Bibi until dinner is ready."</p>
<p>"I would love to entertain the tiny human. She likes me more anyway." With that, Crow plucked Bibi from her brother's hands and stole away to the nursery to play.</p>
<p>Bull rolled his eyes and went to work, grabbing various ingredients from the pantry, freezer, and fridge. His dad eyes the collection of foodstuffs he had assembled on the counter.</p>
<p>"Burgers, or some kind of meatball?" Bull laughed, mostly at the fact that his dad still thought that anything could be a meatball, and began forming burger patties.</p>
<p>"Burgers. I'm not going to put mushrooms in a meatball. I'm not crazy. Chop the onions?" Dad nodded, pulling a cutting board from a drawer and a knife from the block. The duo prepared the food in relative silence, with the elder chef occasionally giving pointers to the younger.</p>
<p>Ever since his dad had first seen him cook, when he had turned a few slices of bread and cheese almost gourmet with a few seasonings, the man had taken Bull on as his protege. Bull spent most weekends at his dad's restaurant, learning how to cook quickly while still maintaining quality, among other things. It had quickly become a shared passion between the two, right next to Clash Royale. They often discussed serious topics over a meal in progress, and tonight was no exception.</p>
<p>"Hey dad, what do you think about brawlers?" His dad hummed, attempting to stroke his chin before realizing he had a knife in his hand. He went back to his pan, stirring the onions and mushrooms.</p>
<p>"They are no different from the rest of us, and so long as they don't hurt anyone who doesn't have powers like they do, they are just fine." Bull let his shoulders sag.</p>
<p>"Good. Because I found out that I am one today."</p>
<p>His dad raised an eyebrow, beckoning him to explain, but didn't seem surprised.</p>
<p>"When I was hanging with Crow today, he was kind of explaining how he summons his weapons, so I tried, and, um.." He turned away from the pan and squeezed his eyes shut. within a few seconds, he held the heavy shotgun that served as his "main", according to Crow.</p>
<p>His dad sighed.</p>
<p>"Why don't we talk about this when your mother gets home?"</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <span>Time skip brought to you by boigas</span>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>"So, uh, surprise?" Bull said, holding his gun in one hand and performing a half-hearted jazz hand with the other. His dad mumbling 'no weapons at the table' was enough to snap his mom out of her stupor.</p>
<p>"Wha..i..how? You aren't related to any brawlers!"</p>
<p>"He doesn't have to be." Everyone looked at Crow, who was attempting (failing) to feed Bibi a mushroom by putting it on a French fry. He put the fry down and used his fork to make a cluster of mushrooms and one of onions on his plate.</p>
<p>"Pretend these three mushrooms make a brawler, and these three onions make a normal human." he took two onions and a mushroom from the group's and made a third group. "Mama Trankston, this is you. If those two, yaknow, mated. Now, Bull's sperm donor comes along-" he pushed a fourth group, this one containing two mushrooms and an onion, over to the third- "and y'all make Bull -" Crow removes the mushrooms from both of those groups, pulling them into a fifth group- "and give him all the right genes to be a brawler."</p>
<p>"Braher!" Bibi shouted in agreement.</p>
<p>Both of Bull's parents seemed content with this answer too. That did not mean that the boys would escape questioning.</p>
<p><em>Rigorous</em> questioning.</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <span>Time skip brought to you by this awesome family</span>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>The years flew by.</p>
<p>Bibi started school, and Bull graduated. The boys worked together to teach their sister how to fight, discovering her brawler genes in the process.</p>
<p>That event is, as most events are, part of another story.</p>
<p>Yes, years fly, and they don't seem to stop until somebody needs to leave.</p>
<p>In this case, those somebodies were Bull and Crow.</p>
<p>The duo had decided they needed to set of for somewhere where they could live in peace. Both boys were getting</p>
<p>The family stood near the front door. Bull, now 18, had a bag slung over his shoulder. He wore a white tank top under a black leather jacket. A leather jacket which, during the Incident That Shall Not Be Named, had gotten its sleeves ripped off. Paired with this top, he wore a pair of jeans tucked into a pair of black boot adorned with spuds. He also wore the novelty belt buckle crow had gotten him for his birthday.</p>
<p>Currently, his younger sister was clinging to his leg.</p>
<p>"You gotta call every day!"</p>
<p>"Yep," Bull replied.</p>
<p>"And visit as much as you can!"</p>
<p>"Yep."</p>
<p>"And send tons of souvenirs and pictures!"</p>
<p>"Yep."</p>
<p>His mom pulled Bibi off of his leg and wrapped her arms around him.</p>
<p>"Stay safe, Brady." He hugged his mom back, practically engulfing her in his arms.</p>
<p>"I will mom."</p>
<p>Nearby, his dad was speaking with Crow.</p>
<p>"Take care of my son. And yourself." Crow nodded.</p>
<p>"Will do, papa Tsunematsu."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This is not the end of the arc! There's gonna be an interlude (road trippin), one or two more actual chapters, and a possible interludeish bridge from Bull to bibi. Unless y'all want someone else next. I just wanted to get this posted because i may not be able to write for a while. So, thank you, please keep reading, and goodnight!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Bull arc Interlude</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Trigger Warnings: a mean police man, swearing.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The boys pulled out of the driveway in a three-year-old black jeep, which had taken a loan from Bull's parents to buy, along with all the cash the boys had already squirreled away for a vehicle. Bibi hopped onto her bike and rode next to the boys until they had passed under the bridge at the edge of town.</p><p>Once Bibi was out of sight and Bull had stopped waving out of the window, Crow got down to business.</p><p>"Alright. Final destination is Brawltopia, right?" Crow asked. Bull pulled his arm back into the jeep and pulled a map out of the glove box.</p><p>"Yeah. I already planned out the first stop and most of the route. We're going to go down through Utah and Arizona, cut through Central America, take the Centennial Bridge across the Panama Canal, and drive down to Georgetown in Guyana and take the tunnel." Bull traced the route with a pencil as he spoke, going over an already very dark line once more.</p><p>"A tunnel that I still don't trust," mumbled a very claustrophobic Crow.</p><p>"Stick a rat in it, Bird brain."</p><p>"I still think we should take Austin's Ferry instead. "</p><p>"Jesus, then we'll really be sleeping with the fishes. No, we're taking the tunnel." The tunnel in question was the only driveable connection between Brawltopia and South America, a 200-mile-long wonder of engineering built by Pam Junker. Molly's Stretch contained Tara's bazaar, which filled the wide sidewalks lining the four lane road. The tunnel was named after the only brawler to have died permanently in battle, a woman who went by the name Molly. Crow took the name as a curse upon any brawler that should pass through it.</p><p>Which is why, throughout the trip, he would beg Bull at random intervals to take the less-than-legal ferry offered by another member of the gang.</p><p>"YEAH YOU'RE WORSE THAN NICOTINE!" Both boys screeched along to the radio. Bull had decided it would be a good idea to turn on some music, mostly to distract Crow from Molly's Stretch. Crow agreed to turn on some tunes, so long as he got to chose them, and Bull thanked his lucky stars that the avian would finally shut up about the tunnel.</p><p>And while the Panic! At The Disco karaoke was amusing, it was nothing compared to the pure euphoria of hearing Crow belt "Today 4 U" at the top of his lungs.</p><p>"I assure you officer, the licence is completely legal," Bull mumbled as the officer pulled him out of the car to pat him down.</p><p>"Yeah yeah. I don't trust you brawlers as far as I can throw ya. So shut up and let me do my job."</p><p>The Officer finished inspecting Bull, then walked around to the other side of the car to search Crow. After each Brawler received a breathalyzer test, they were free to go.</p><p>They intentionally blasted "(Fuck a) Silver Lining" as they drove away.</p><p>"There it is Crow."</p><p>"Shut your up fuck. I don't want to see it." The boys drove up to the entrance of Molly's Stretch, showing their passports as they did so. The woman at the booth took their money and waved them through into the mouth of the tunnel.</p><p>Bull turned on the headlights as Crow put on a sleep mask and curled up as much as his seatbelt would let him. Bull laughed, assuming Crow meant to sleep through the Four-hour-long drive through the tunnel.</p><p>Somehow, the bird brawler succeeded.</p><p>Bull winced as the sunlight came through the window. The wince, however, quickly melted into awe as he saw the Metropolis Wedge, the piece of the almost circular island that held the modern cityscapes: Super City and Robotown. He smacked Crow until the man woke up with a snort, then he gestured out the window. The Brawlers stated silently at towering buildings and colorful crowds until Crow uttered one ground-breaking statement:</p><p>"Holy shit dude."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Holy shit dude indeed, Crow. The future of this story recently hit me like a truck. So, to shed some light:</p><p>1. If (one can only hope) I finish this story, which I plan to, there will be a sequel. The various groups will interact more and it will be much fluffier. Kairos screwed us over by proving the theme park theory, so I'm gonna use the second book as a way to expand on the brawlera and use the theme park jive. I'm hyped tho! It's gonna be great.</p><p>2. Fucking hell I'm going to be drawing my own brawltopia map</p><p>3. If I get too many drawing ideas for this story, I may end up making that a separate book on Ao3. Only Ao3 though, because you can't post art on Fanfiction! *long suffering sigh* I'll link it.</p><p>That all being said, thank you, please keep reading, and goodnight!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Bull arc chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Trigger Warnings: Jacky's mouth. Like, she needs Jesus.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The duo stopped at the first welcome center, picking up a map and planning out their next steps. "So, you decided you wanted to stay in the Metro-retro wedge, right?" Crow asked, clicking a pen as he spoke.</p><p>"Yeah," murmured Bull, who was deep in thought. Crow studied his face, but found no signs of what the younger man was thinking. Then out of the blue, Bull voiced what was going on in his head. "What if we opened a restaurant? I can cook, you can wait tables. We need jobs anyways." Crow blinked a few times, then sighed.</p><p>"Where and with what money? I'm fine with taking out a loan, but we need an actual plan to do that." Bull snatched the map from his hands and stared at the Metro-retro wedge. Crow could see him mouthing ideas and occasionally shaking his head. Finally, he planted a finger firmly on the tip of the wedge, where the modern cityscapes began to fade away as Retropolis began to grow larger. The city had a fifties feel, and would be a perfect location for any sort of restaurant.</p><p>"Here. That way, the restaurant can still be in the city, but people from some of the other wedges can still get there." Crow nodded, satisfied with the reasoning. He trusted his friend completely, and he figured that there were gangs in Retropolis if they got low on cash.</p><p>"Alright then. Let's go."</p><p>
  <span class="u"> <strong>Time skip brought to you by a lack of planning.</strong> </span>
</p><p>The two men spent the rest of the day driving up to the top of the city wedge, pitching ideas back and forth about their latest business venture. Eventually they settled on opening a diner, with Bull claiming that everyone likes greasy food. The diner would fit in with the theme of the city surrounding it, and the finished product would not look out of place in the movie /Grease/.</p><p>Both boys were hyped up as they drove through the area of Retropolis they had selected, where Super City and Robotown faded out and Retropolis swelled to take over the remainder of the wedge. Occasionally, one of them would point out a building to the other, but it wasn't until the twentieth or so building that the men began to make progress.</p><p>The building was a squat rectangle, with a decaying roof and red stains lining the gutters, presumably from neon piping. The walls were painted white, but the paint was peeling away to reveal a coat of black underneath. In front of the glass double doors stood a man and a woman, both holding demolition tools, and a robot in some sort of cart.</p><p>"Crow Crow Crow stop! Right there! That one!" Bull slapped Crow's shoulder until the older man pulled into the parking lot, practically tumbling out the door in an attempt to stop the demolition crew from taking down the building. The trio turned to stare at Bull, who looked like a maniac as he ran towards them, shouting for them to stop.</p><p>The woman, who wore overalls over a red shirt that matched her partner, a hard hat, and pigtails pulled out a small hand drill and a container of pepper spray, both of which were quickly taken away by her partner. He was an older man with a white beard who was clad in a similar outfit, with jeans instead of overalls. The robot, who was seated in a cart next to them, wore overalls, a red bow tie, and a hard hat.</p><p>"Please don't take this building down! My name is Brady Trankston and I am completely willing to buy this building!" heaved Bull, out of breath from his sprint and near collision with a pile of shopping carts laying haphazardly in the parking lot.</p><p>"Are ya now?"</p><p>"This one?" Crow glanced at the woman, surprised that they had spoken at the same time. The woman nodded at him, then went back to staring at Bull.</p><p>"Yeah! Yes. Yes," Bull said, taking a second look at the building. He nodded once to himself before grabbing Crow's wrist and hauling him into the building. The demolition crew followed, none of them entirely sure of what was happening. "Yeah, 's what I thought. Perfect size." He surveyed he inside, which was little more than an empty box at the moment. Dragging Crow over to a corner, he began estimating measurements. "If we put a wall here, this would be a great kitchen. Stove here, fryers, ovens, the whole shebang. You getting this Crow?"</p><p>"No? Am I supposed to be getting it?"</p><p>"Nevermind." Bull let go of his friend and walked to a different corner, where he started trying to figure out how large of a booth he could fit there and using himself as a ruler. Crow rolled his eyes and approached the demolition crew.</p><p>"Hey, sorry about this. I'll let him wear himself out then we'll be outta your hair." The man nodded at him.</p><p>"You two are trying to start a restaurant?" Crow gave an amused sigh. The man took that as an answer and pulled his crew aside with him. After a few minutes of huddling, whispering, and peaking, the group walked back over to where he was standing and watching Bull try to figure out exactly how many booths he could fit along the wall. "You can have it." Crow blinked owlishly, allowing his brain to catch up to his ears.</p><p>"Wait. WAIT! We can just take it! It's- we- no!" The older man sighed.</p><p>"Look, the city gave us the deed and said we could do whatever with it. So, we're giving it to you." Crow continued sputtering.</p><p>"I- wait- if you don't take the building down you won't get paid!"</p><p>"Shut the fuck up and let us explain proper, will ya?" Crow jumped a bit when the woman started yelling. She looked to be about his age, maybe younger, and she spoke in a New York accent with a bit of a Boston drawl tacked on the end. "Okay?" She nodded and started speaking. "We's ain't just demo, we's do construction, too. So you's can pay us to put up the fancy wall ya friend was talking 'bout-" she paused to jab a thumb in Bull's general direction. "-and we'd can do whatevah else ya need, construction wise. We's get paid, you's get a restaurant." Crow pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, then dragged his hands down his face, accidentally plucking a feather or two.</p><p>"Bull, you got the building."</p><p>"Whoo!"</p><p>
  <span class="u"> <strong>Time skip brought to you by a healthy respect for Jacky</strong> </span>
</p><p>After the crew introduced themselves, The older man as Mike, the woman as Jacky, and the robot as Carl, the happy group got to work. Bull outlined what the restaurant should look like, and the construction crew for cracking on exact measurements (opposed to saying the desired wall was five Bulls long) as Crow and Bull scoured the Internet for various staples of restaurants, including booths and cooking equipment.</p><p>The true work started the next day. Bull and Crow woke up early, got breakfast at their hotel, and went to meet Mike, Jacky, and Carl at the old family run convenience store. The rest of the day was spent tearing down drywall and hauling away food that had been left. During the lunch break, Jacky pointed out an apartment complex that the boys could stay at.</p><p>"Old as shit, but ya don't gotta pay per night, so that's a plus," she said, shoveling another spoonful of chili from her thermos to her mouth.</p><p>The months passed in much of the same manner. The group would meet early in the morning, work all day, and talk all the while. People from around the city began to wander over to the site, and the occasional handyman would stick around for a few hours, or at the very least trade a dead battery for a charged one. However, all shitty montages must come to an end, and soon the finishing touches were being put on.</p><p>Specifically, the sign.</p><p>A large neon sign that read "Bull's" above a glowing bull's skull that required a crane for installation sat perched on the edge of the roof as Mike, Jacky, and Bull screwed it on and took care of wiring. Below the sign, a thin line of red neon tubing ran around the the roof. In years to come, more neon would be added as more money was acquired, but just the sign would do for now. After it was installed, the roof climbers took the ladder down and stood next to Crow and Carl on the ground. Bull smiled and wiped a tear from his eye before taking a picture of the exterior to send to his family.</p><p>The group headed inside for lunch, which Bull had taken to cooking with ingredients brought from home. The inside of the diner was just as covered in neon as the outside. Stepping through the door was like stepping into a time machine.</p><p>A time machine that a yard sale had used as a puke bucket.</p><p>The walls were lined with old fashioned posters and merch for everything imaginable, mostly collected at flea markets. However, the best part was the AMI G200, a jukebox that could be loaded with up to 200 records.</p><p>The crew only stopped for a minute to admire their work before taking seats at the bar. Within a few minutes, their lunches were ready and they dug in. Carl oiled his joints as they ate, careful not to get any oil on their food.</p><p>"Well, I guess this is pretty much it. The rest is up to us," Bull sighed as he polished off his burger.</p><p>"Don't think you're getting rid of us that easy, kid," replied Mike.</p><p>"Yeah Bull, we live right in town and we only thleep in the mines thometimes. We could get dinner here every night if we wanted to!" Bull smiled at the miners, glad to have friends who were from the city.</p><p>"Thanks guys. Now everyone go home! Big day tomorrow."</p><p>
  <span class="u"> <strong>Time skip brought to you by the reason I wrote this story</strong> </span>
</p><p>The next day, the five of them stood outside the restaurant, waiting until noon. A small crowd was milling about in the parking lot, waiting for the doors of the new restaurant to open. The wait staff they had hired so Crow didn't have to work alone stood inside, ready to take orders. Bull cleared his throat, winked at Jacky, then nodded at Crow.</p><p>"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Bull's Diner!"</p><p>&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;CLEVER LEAD IN TO NEXT ARC&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;&lt;&gt;</p><p>"Nii-chan! Bird-chan! Y'all here?"</p><p>"Bibi?"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS I ACTUALLY FINISHED THE ARC. I DIDN'T THINK THAT WOULD HAPPEN. Guesses for next arc anyone? Thank you, please keep reading, and goodnight</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Bibi prequel: Play Ball!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bibi had to speed walk to keep up with Nii-chan and Crow, but it was okay. She didn't need them to slow down because she was a big girl, and she needed to get faster anyways. For Little League. She jogged a little bit, squeezing herself in between Nii-chan and Crow, who were taking her to hang out with their friends! Which was really cool! They were going to play baseball! Which was even cooler!</p>
<p>Bibi hummed as she walked, perfectly content with the day. At one point, Crow asked her if she had a lunch, and she pulled her Bento out of her drawstring bag. She was in charge of her and Nii-chan's lunches and waters, because he was carrying his bat and both of their helmets, along with other various pieces of equipment, in his bag. She had her own bat, so he didn't need to carry hers. Mr. Bat appeared when she needed him.</p>
<p>Bibi wondered if her brother's friends were nice while Bull and Crow discussed her bat situation.</p>
<p>"She told me she had one!" Bull protested, mentally scolding himself for not buying a bat for her to use.</p>
<p>"Well the only guy who may have one she could use is Don, and that's a big if. If he doesn't have something, she's screwed," Crow replied.</p>
<p>"I know."</p>
<p>Bibi hummed on, blissfully unaware of the bickering going on above her head.</p>
<p>It wasn't long before they got to the field that the younger gang members used to play ball. Bull quickly slung the equipment over to a dugout and walked off to go find Don. Meanwhile, Crow walked around with Bibi and introduced her to some of the older kids.</p>
<p>Bull trudged defeatedly over to where Crow was drilling Bibi on emergency procedures. He was in the middle of explaining what to do if a big white van pulled up when Bull flopped into the bench.</p>
<p>"Bibi, I'm sorry kid, but there's no bats here you can use." She huffed and crossed her arms.</p>
<p>"I told ya, I have a bat!" Crow and Bull shared a pitying look.</p>
<p>"Well, where is it?" Crow asked. Bibi squeezed her eyes shut.</p>
<p>And that's when the bat appeared.</p>
<p>It looked to be about half her height, and there was an eight ball attached to the bottom with a chain. A simple smiley face was drawn higher on the bat, and there was a trigger protruding from the handle.</p>
<p>Bull blinked and began to say something, but Crow cut him off.</p>
<p>"Alright, she's got a bat. Try to get a helmet over that hair of yours and lets play ball!"</p>
<p>
  <strong> Time skip brought to you by the national pastime </strong>
</p>
<p>Bibi stood at home base, staring into the skeptical eyes of the pitcher. He glanced at her brother, who shrugged and grinned. The pitcher nodded at the catcher and pitched Bibi a perfect softball underhand.</p>
<p>A pitch which she proceeded to knock out of the park. She dropped her bat and bolted, motoring to first base. When the girl there told her she could keep going, the ball was gone, Bibi continued her mad sprint, strangely putting on speed as her foot slammed first. She figured it was just adrenaline and kept running.</p>
<p>The family had a fun conversation about brawlers over dinner that night.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hey hey! Sorry for the short chapter, but this is just a fun little interlude. I wanted to let y'all know that I'm going to take a break before posting the Bibi arc, because I want to have the Crow arc written before I do so. I'm going to try to get an arc ahead, just to give myself some wiggle room. That being said, thank you, please keep reading, and goodnight!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Bibi arc chapter the only</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bibi! Yay!</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TRIGGER WARNINGS: racial discrimination, but not in the way you think. I promise. As a side note: that behavior is portrayed as bad and is in fact, bad.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Things got scary after Bull left.</p><p>Not right away, but gradually. Maybe a few wayward glances on a walk, mostly gossips passing rumors about where her brother went.</p><p>Soon enough, it got out that he was a brawler. That's when they started to get concerned.</p><p>Dad wasn't getting as much business, but school was starting up and the tourists were leaving. At least, that was what they chose to believe. Until the notes started coming.</p><p>They were just taped on to the door or left on the front step usually, but occasionally there would be a shattered window and a brick on the floor in the morning.</p><p>Mom and Dad generally didn't let her read the notes, but she saw one when they had left it on the table one day.</p><p>"Keep your psycho kids away from our food, fucking brawler spawner" it had read. Bibi had run to her room, horrified. She called Bull as soon as she had flung herself onto her bed. She had sobbed into the speaker for a few minutes before she could even begin talking.</p><p>School was worse.</p><p>The other kids had known she was a brawler for as long as she had, but they had only gotten cruel when their parents had. Their town was small, so word traveled fast. Soon enough, most of the school either avoided her like the plague, or openly teased her whenever they got the chance. She wore the leather jacket her brother had gotten her every day, half to remind herself it would be better one day, and half to hide the bruises.</p><p>She did, however, have one friend.</p><p>The girl was her age, with cornrows she kept tied back and a flamboyant personality. Her name was Elizabeth Doleson, but she let Bibi call her Eli. The girls found solace in each other, and worked to defend each other from the bullies that roamed the halls of the school. One of the girls was at the other's house more often than not, and Bibi suspected that that was the only reason she hadn't been driven out of town yet: Eli's mother was a police officer, which granted anybody she liked protection because of the sort of unspoken fear that surrounded her.</p><p>And so, Eli and Bibi took on the world day after day.</p><p>Until Eli moved, that was.</p><p>Her mother had been offered a fantastic job in San Fransisco, one that paid more than Bibi's family made in a year. When Eli broke the news, she joked that it was like the Sonic movie.</p><p>Bibi spat back that at least Tom came back.</p><p>Eli's family waited until the school year had ended to leave. The actual departure was tearful, with the two girls clinging to each other until the last possible second. When the Dolesons got in the car and began to drive away, Bibi rode alongside them on her bike until the bridge just before the town line.</p><p>The entire scene was oddly reminiscent of Bull leaving for Brawltopia.</p><p>However, when Mrs. Doleson left, so did the last thing keeping the town from running the Tsunematsu-Trankstons out of town. The situation with the restaurant quickly escalated, and at least one light was broken every night. The people who threw rocks through the door liked to aim for those. Bibi's dad had taken to putting plywood over the windows each night, simply to prevent people from breaking them.</p><p>The police turned a blind eye.</p><p>Over the summer, the discrimination got so bad that Bibi managed to convince her parents to let her homeschool herself. Some members of Bull and Crow's gang offered to help, so she would spend her days in the old warehouse where Bull had discovered he was a brawler. It was actually nice, she decided. The gang would tell her about her brother or about brawling during breaks.</p><p>Not to mention that only gang members and her parents knew where she was, and if anyone happened to find her, they would have the gang to go through.</p><p>Bull called often, and he offered to come home a few times a week. All three family members insisted he stay where he was. It was safer there. They would be fine.</p><p>So they thought.</p><p>It was about a week before christmas when everything came crashing down around their heads.</p><p>It started when the man selling trees refused to sell them one. That was unfortunate, but they had a fake tree at home they could use. No big deal. Jayden, one of the gang members, came to pick Bibi up for pseudo school, which they had pushed back in the day to go tree hunting. This was at ten a.m.</p><p>Jayden and Bibi joked together as they walked to the warehouse, with jayden occasionally stopping to glare at someone. The girl was an ideal protector. She was six feet of pure muscle, and often made it into the newspaper for victories in weightlifting and tang soo do tournaments. The girls made it to the warehouse and began lessons for the day. Around noon, Bibi's dad came to drop off a lunch, a bento box containing a generous serving of Unagi and a few onigiri. He also brought a box of mochi for her impromptu teachers.</p><p>Like he usually did, Mr. Tsunematsu stayed to chat and help with any questions. He made a habit of dropping Bibi's lunch off at least once a week, instead of just sending it with her. He didn't end up leaving until 12:45.</p><p>At one o'clock, Bibi got a call from her mom telling her to pack up, but to not leave until her parents came to get her. She threw her things in her backpack and began pacing, waiting for her parents to arrive. Soon enough, Mom and Dad walked into the warehouse. Both were teary eyed.</p><p>Mom walked up to Jayden and Roger, Jayden's brother, and shoved a wad of cash into both their hands.</p><p>"Thank you. For everything."</p><p>"Mom, what's wrong?" Her mom looked at her, fell to her knees, and opened her arms for a hug. Bibi rushed over and wrapped her arms around her mom's shoulders, already beginning to cry.</p><p>Her dad came and put a hand on her shoulder. He cleared his throat before admitting what was wrong.</p><p>"They burned down the restaurant." Bibi choked on her breath, then let out a loud sob. Her dad let her and her mom cry for a minute, then gently pulled them both up. "Crow and Bull had the right idea. We're going to Brawltopia."</p><p>Jayden nodded at Roger, who pulled his phone out of his pocket and began dialing. As he chatted with whoever was on the other end, Jayden confronted the family.</p><p>"We can tell the gang what you're doing. That way, if you need to stop, you can just stop at one of the hideouts. They'll get you to Brawltopia." Mr. Tsunematsu nodded.</p><p>"Thank you."</p><p>"Don't mention it. Now get out of here before you get hurt."</p><p>He nodded and ushered Mrs. Trankston and Bibi into the van.</p><p>As they left, Bibi saw a couple of students riding alongside the car and shouting at them. Reading their lips, their words didn't seem pleasant.</p><p>She decided her goodbyes were better.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <span>Time skip brought to you by road trippin part two</span>
  </strong>
</p><p>Bibi couldn't stop staring as they drove through Molly's Stretch. The colorful booths making up Tara's bazaar that lined the wall kept her eyes darting around the tunnel. She could hardly imagine what the counterpart on land would look like. At one point, a woman whose face was wrapped in pink cloth and a boy wearing a modified pillowcase on his head noticed her staring and waved. She managed to process the action and wave back before they were out of view.</p><p>She only realized that the woman looked exactly like the pictures she had seen of Tara about five minutes later.</p><p>When they finally got out of the tunnel, Bibi was astounded by the landscape: buildings towered overhead, and she thought she could see the skyline of Robotown just a few miles away. She gaped, and her dad let out a low whistle. It took her mother a minute, but when she looked up from the map she seemed impressed.</p><p>"It's a far cry from Boise," she said. She had grown up in Boise, and had moved to Rochester, their tiny hometown in Owyhee county, for work. She ended up telling Bibi stories from her childhood until they reached Retropolis.</p><p>When they reached Bull's diner, her parents dropped her off while they went to go find a hotel that they could stay in until they found a house. Bibi shoved open the doors to the diner.</p><p>"Nii-chan! Bird-chan! Y'all here?"</p><p>"Bibi?" Bull called from the kitchen. Crow looked over from where he was standing behind the counter and grinned his odd, birdy grin. Bull came out from the kitchen, looked at her, yelled that he was taking a lunch break, and walked over to hug her.</p><p>When he asked where mom and dad were, Bibi sat down at the counter, ordered, and told Bull to get comfy. She told him what had happened over the past few days. When her story was done, Bull was left blinking on the seat next to her.</p><p>"It got that bad and you didn't tell me?" his voice was barely above a whisper as he spoke.</p><p>"We didn't want you to worry." Bull sughed, but didn't reply. After a few moments of thought, he spoke again.</p><p>"The building across the street is up for sale. Dad probably has enough money for collateral. He can reopen the restaurant there. Because what's a little competition between family, right?" Bibi chuckled. Things began looking up.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>HAhahahaha you guys I am so dead. School starts tomorrow. I binge wrote this all of today. In other news, as the entire internet collectively loses their shit about the 8-bit mini game, I'm scrambling to write a backstory. Which contains, surprise surprise, more angst. At this point, Penny, Bea, Rosa, and Brock are the only ones with even a smidge of fluff. I am so sorry. Thank you, please keep reading, and goodnight!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Crow arc chapter one</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Gang wars suck. crow part one, there will definitely be a part two and maybe a part three.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TRIGGER WARNINGS: lots of murder, gang wars, Guns and knives, selective muteness. Does that count? I"ll put it in just to be safe.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>He was four when fighting broke out across the city of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The city had its alleyways, its dark corners, and its abandoned lots that felt disconnected from reality. Tonight those were all spattered with blood. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Around the city, a gang had been given the signal to attack any members of rival gangs they saw on the streets.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lester Igwe senior was currently involved in one of these fights. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He did his best to try to dodge his opponent's blows, and for the most part he was succeeding. However, his worry made him slower than he usually was, leaving his opponent thinking maybe he wasn't so great or terrifying. When the other man pulled out a gun, Lester pulled out his tried and true switchblade and planted it between the man's eyes with a quick flick of the wrist. The man went down as if he had realized he was due for an appointment six feet under.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lester didn't stick around to wish the man well on his way to hell. He was already dashing away to try to find his wife, who was a member of the gang he was a part of. He suspected she may already be at the most secure safe house in town, with their son.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oh God their </span>
  <em>
    <span>son</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He began to run faster than he thought he could. He rounded the corner and spent most of his mad sprint to the safe house screaming his son's name, not paying attention to the several feathers falling off of his head and arms. He only stopped shouting when he got to the door, which was already open.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Inside sat his son, with most of the younger members of the gang. Around them stood three men with M-16s, and three more with ordinary pistols. Lester senior barely had time to register the body of his wife on the floor before one of the men holding a pistol planted a bullet where Lester himself had put a knife in another man's head not ten minutes earlier.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lester Igwe Junior screamed as he saw one of his parents die in front of him for the second time in an hour.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He didn't have much time to mourn, as the men quickly shut him up by putting a gun to the head of Lucy Reys, a girl who was like a sister to the young bird brawler. She winked at him and shot him a smile. Lester shut his beak and stared morosely at the ground. He felt the edges of his mind begin to go numb with grief, and he cuddled further into the side of Ricky LaRoo, who currently had him tucked under one arm. Ricky squeezed him a bit. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was about four more hours before the police arrived. They had dubbed it too dangerous to go out during the initial fighting, so the department had waited until it had settled down a bit. By the time they came, though, Lester was mentally unreachable. He wasn't responding to anything. The four year old simply stared into the distance. He did everything he was told, but he didn't talk. He was just going through the motions. A well-meaning passerby who had majored in Psychology tried to get him to talk, which only could have gone worse if Lester had burst out sobbing. and so, the night ended on a far more sour note that it had started on.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Time skip brought to you by the saving power of music.</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was weeks before Lester said anything. He had been living with the Reys family, who had made it out of the fighting almost unscathed. Mrs. Reys was on crutches, and Mr. Reys' arm was in a sling, but all three of them were alive. And so, they had taken Lester in. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>At first, he had been completely mute, only nodding and pointing. He had only begun speaking recently, and only when absolutely necessary. When he needed something, he would say so, but for the most part he was still silent. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lucy watched these events occur with concern. Kids weren't </span>
  <em>
    <span>supposed</span>
  </em>
  <span> to be silent. They were supposed to be full of life. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So she decided to do something about that. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lucy tried as many things as she could to cheer the boy up, at least temporarily. None of her attempts had anything to show for them. She tried everything from video games to adventures around the city and in the woods, but nothing seemed to be working.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Of course, the one time she wasn't trying, she made progress.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She was working on her homework with music playing from a small speaker on her desk. It has been playing Hadestown for an hour and a half while she researched for a report on a book she had hardly read. Lucy was so wrapped up in her book report that she didn't notice Lester sitting on her bed. She didn't look his way until he spoke.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lester thought the songs Lucy was playing were pretty good, and he had been swaying to almost all of them. Except for one. When that one came on he froze, listening raptly. As the singer let the last note ring, Lester sniffed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> "I liked that song." Lucy replied with a nod.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> "Yeah, 's pretty good." It took her a moment to realize what had just happened. She whipped around in her seat to face the little bird brawler. "Msorrywhadjyajussay?" Crow thought for a second, trying to decode her words. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> "Oh. I said I liked that song. He has a nice voice." Lucy let out a little sob as she clambered over to her bed to hug him. He made a small "oomph" noise as she latched onto him, breathing hard and trying not to burst into tears. Once she had calmed down, she backed up a bit, still holding onto his shoulders. She asked him if he wanted to listen to the musical again when it was done, and he said yes, albeit in a whisper.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So, the family finally found a way to cheer the boy up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The next day, the Reys family bought Lester a pair of headphones, which he didn't take off for the entire first week. He only pulled them down into his neck when Mr. or Mrs. Reys wanted to talk to him, or when he wanted to talk to Lucy about the music. Eventually they managed to coax him out of them, though it did take some bribery. Lucy introduced him to a new album, artist, or musical almost weekly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Soon enough, he wasn't only talking about music. He was talking about anything that came to his mind. he would ask Mr. Reys questions about sports, and tell Mrs. Reys all about his favorite action flicks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Slowly, Lester came back to life. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Life did not mean normal, though. He woke up screaming and sobbing a few times a week, and he still flinched whenever somebody called his name. Lucy thought the first one was completely normal for someone who had been through what he had (oftentimes, she woke up with a pounding heart and teary eyes from a similar nightmare), but it took the help of Ricky to figure out the latter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lucy and Ricky were walking home from school. Ricky was sipping a Boba tea he had gotten from an older student while Lucy talked about Lester, occasionally kicking a rock that she had found near the school.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I don't know what to do Rick! I can't help him if I don't know what's wrong!" Rick slurped at a boba pearl as he tucked a dreadlock behind his ear.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Isn't he Lester junior?" Lucy froze dead in her tracks. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"oh no no no I'm such a bad sister!" Ricky stepped back and put an arm around Lucy's shoulders. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You're trying your best, Luce. It took me a second to remember it, so don't beat yourself up about it. Yeah?" Lucy sniffed and nodded. "Alright. Now, Let's go see your bro. Get the kid a nickname or something."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Time skip brought to you by the noble Corvus brachyrhynchos</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They had been at Lucy's house for a little more than an hour when Ricky, the king of smooth, decided it was high time Lester got a nickname.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stopped Lester when the boy walked by to grab a drink.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Hey, kid. I like your name, but we can't just call you Lester all the time at the hideout, yeah? Privacy and all that, you feel me?" Lester nodded and began rubbing the side of his beak with his sleeve, a habit he had picked up from his dad, who has shared his avian traits. "Okay, c'mon. Pop a squat and we'll find you a nickname." Lester clamored onto a stool next to Ricky as Lucy got out a piece of paper to write down ideas.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"How about just Les?" Lucy asked. Lester was quick to dismiss that suggestion. "Okay then, nothing to do with your actual name."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ricky and Lucy dropped a few more random suggestions, some of which almost didn't suck, before they caught onto something.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"What about corvus? that's the genus of crows and ravens." </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Maybe." Lucy smiled at Ricky, who smiled back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Okay, progress! what about... Corone? That's the species of the carrion crow."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"No, I don't think so Luce. Ain't you an american crow, little dude? that would be-" he stopped to look it up on his phone before making a face "-brachyrhynchos. Yeesh, nevermind."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"What about Raven? you know, smart bird, everyone thinks it a crow-"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"-what about just Crow?" Lester nearly whispered. Ricky flashed a grin at Lucy before scooping the kid into his arms.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Alright Crow, What do you say we go get some ice cream, to celebrate a new you, you know? New name, new chapter." Crow giggled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, ice cream!"</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Well.</p><p>I'm back.<br/>So about that whole posting in arcs thing: yeah no. not doing that. I'm really sorry this chapter took so long, but it was a toughy. still don't super adore it, but what can you do.<br/>I'm going to be posting an Among us one shot (some of the brawlers play it. It really is not that big of a deal.) relatively soon. the title makes it sound a lot more dramatic than it is. It's gonna be ...<br/>There's A Traitor In Our Midst (And I'll Take Them Down With Me)<br/>So look out for that!<br/>That being said, also look out for the next chapter of this and ask the brawlers questions! ask box is very very open!<br/>Thank you, please keep reading, and goodnight!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Crow arc chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Caw caw, mothertrucker. Crow matures and meets a very smol child.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TRIGGER WARNINGS: Mentions of abuse. If Bull arc 2 made you uncomfortable, I mention his arms in this, though I don't go into specifics.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>By the time Crow was slated to go into kindergarten, the Reys had adopted him. It was a good thing they did, because the kids in his class most certainly did </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> need more reasons to tease the young bird brawler. Crow thanked his parents (both sets) and every god he knew of when the head of the gang in their area sent someone to inform them that they would be moving to a small town in Idaho called Rochester. The family was allowed a week to get ready before they would have to ship out. They were considered lucky, seeing as they got to keep their names. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It turned out that they were going to be helping to expand the gang's reach. Crow had been told the gang worked as a support system for anybody who needed it, whether they were brawlers, runaways, or just people who needed a place to stay. There weren't that many centers in Idaho, so it made sense that they would be moving there.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The siblings exchanged sad goodbyes with Ricky, who promised his family would be moving to help with expansion as soon as his new siblings were able to move.. His mom was pregnant with a pair of twins, so the LaRoos would be staying in Broken Arrow. Ricky swore up and down that he would call or text as much as he could, and left both Reys kids with a parting gift: a Hadestown t-Shirt for Crow (nevermind the fact that it was far to large for him) and two rings set with gems, A peridot for Crow's birthday and an amethyst for Ricky's.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I just know that you like the idea of healing gems and all that, and I thought our birthstones would be a good start. I ordered you a necklace with yours, but it hasn't-" he let out a small cough as she ran into him with a hug- "come in yet."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Ricky, you're the greatest."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Thanks Luce." The two drew away from the hug when Mrs. Reys called out that it was time to go. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As they drove away, Ricky gave a single, solemn wave.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Time skip brought to you by me shipping my OCs with each other</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Idaho was, overall, a pretty cool place.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was nice that he could feel helpful as he did all he could to help the gang get started in the little city he would now be calling home. The people who wanted to join were nice, and they also mostly wanted to help. Within a month, the gang was running a small shelter on the edge of town. Crow visited every day (with adult supervision of course) to spread joy around the building that was trying so very hard not to be as terribly drab as it was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was pretty cool being in the gang, too, because there were kids from all over the country coming in with their families. There were two or three more who were brawlers, so he wasn't completely alone there either. The brawler he was closest to was Roxy. She was a stark white cheetah, with a stripe of black running up her nose. She wore a leather jacket with the gang's symbol stitched onto the back most days, and the girl came to school clad in a large fluffy sky-blue sweater that matched her eyes when the jacket was dirty. She gave the best hugs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was an older woman in the gang too, a lady by the name of Mrs. Corduroy who picked the kids up from school every day. She was in her late seventies or early eighties (nobody knew for sure), but somehow her hair was the same dirty blonde it had probably been forty years ago. She was outrageously nice and was a huge fan of randomly giving gang members slices of pie. In her defense, it was very good pie.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Of course, his new home had its downsides, too.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kids were cruel, even more so than they had been in Broken Arrow. Lucy had his back, but she went to a different school because she was a middle schooler. Roxy, who was tough as nails (and had very sharp claws) was with him most of the day.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Except when she wasn't.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Roxy was a good reader. A </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> good reader. So, she was moved up a grade for reading classes. Her class did reading right before lunch, which meant she went with the to lunch right after reading and then recess.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So, during lunch and recess, Crow was on his own. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He spent most days hiding in the bathroom while others played, and asked for cold lunches from his parents so that he could avoid the lunch line. Every day, when his recess and her lunch were over, she found him and made sure he wasn’t bruised up. He usually wasn’t. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That wasn’t to say a fair few of the bigger, older boys weren’t still nursing cat scratches.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The friends had gotten in the habit of sparring on the roof while they waited for Mrs. Corduroy to arrive. Once she pulled up in front of the school in her worn Volkswagen, Roxy would climb on to Crow’s back and hold on for dear life as the bird brawler jumped off the roof using his super. Between Crow's and Roxy's animalistic reflexes, they were able to catch all fourteen daggers that came with the maneuver. From there, Mrs. Corduroy would usher them into her beat up old van, asking how their days were and if there was anyone she needed to be mad at on that particular day. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Generally, life was good.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A year and a half after the Reys moved to Rochester, the LaRoos arrived, with babies Jayden and Braylon in tow. The reunion was joyful, with Lucy clinging to Ricky nearly the entire time as she fiddled with the necklace he got her and Crow attempting to steal the twins so he could play with them. The LaRoo family moved in just three doors away from the Reys, which made the whole thing even sweeter. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Two months later, Lucy and Ricky started dating, and the only people who were even mildly surprised by this development were Lucy and Ricky.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>All in all, Crow was alive, and so were all his loved ones, and that was what mattered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The young bird brawler was starting to come out of his shell, too, which was decidedly a good thing. He was starting to walk away from the shadow of his parent's death, which was making him and everyone around him happier. As his classmates matured, a few of them started looking past him and Roxy being Brawlers, so they began to make friends outside of the gang. They slowly gained popularity, until even those who disliked brawlers the most had a grudging friendship with them. Part of this was Roxy's no bullshit attitude and solid advice, but Crow's now charismatic personality had some part in attracting the other students as well. As his class grew, so did Crow. his closest friends and family watched him turn from a boy that only spoke when absolutely necessary to a normal, goofy, big-hearted, loud-mouthed kid. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As he grew, he also revealed his intelligence. Crow began throwing himself into school as he got older, and his teachers began to see just how well he absorbed material. While he wasn't the fastest and couldn't have an assignment done within a few minutes like Roxy, he had the best comprehension in the class. He was in advanced classes almost all day, and the only reason he hadn't skipped a grade was because he insisted on staying in the same class as Roxy, who despised anything with numbers and absolutely refused to give more than 50% effort in math class. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He did, however, start tutoring.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>At first, he just stayed after school for a few minutes when he understood a concept that one of his classmates didn't. Soon enough, though, his teachers found out how much he liked teaching his classmates and recommended tutoring. There was a program through the school where students could talk to a teacher and get set up with a tutor. Naturally, Crow jumped at the opportunity, especially since there was a chance he would get paid if parents could spare the cash for a tip.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So, every day, Roxy would go to a gang hideout with Mrs. Corduroy and the other kids while Crow stayed after to be picked up by Lucy and Ricky when he was done with his tutoring for the day.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tutoring was how he met Brady Trankston.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The kid was short and skinny </span>
  <span>too skinny</span>
  <span> and wearing a baggy black hoodie. He had a slightly dirtied white cast with frayed edges on one arm and a bandage hidden beneath his hoodie on the other. Normally with just the cast, Crow would dismiss it as clumsiness. However, the bandage set off alarms, especially seeing as it was hidden. In the gang, Crow had seen just a few too many concealed bandages to dismiss them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Act cool, Crow, ask about wounds later</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he thought to himself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Hey! Brady Trankston, right?" Crow watched as the boy nodded and fiddled with the edge of his cast. He made a mental note of the kid's timidness as he pulled up a chair. He also made note of the way the kid scanned him, as if he was trying to assess the threat he posed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Crow pulled up a chair and introduced himself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Well, my name's Lester, but you can call me Crow. Everyone does. You know, 'cuz, caw?” Crow chuckled a bit at the boy’s shock. “I’m surprised you didn’t notice when I walked in. Now, what do you need help with?” the boy looked down at his lap.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Stupid Mrs. Doddly is basically flunking me for neatness. Plus, I just had ta take some time off and I can’t catch up,” He grumbled. Crow made a point of glancing at his cast.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Time off is an understatement, kid.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I didn’t like her much when I had her for class. Let’s get to it!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Time skip brought to you by deja vu</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After they had finished Brady’s times tables, Brady started to throw his stuff in his bag, rubbing his sleeve up against his bandages. Crow decided he needed to ask about the various wounds, and quickly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey kid, you don’t seem like an ‘I fell out of a tree’ kind of guy. How’d you break your arm?” His heart sank as Brady froze, and fell a little further for every second the kid sat and thought. Eventually, he seemed to make up his mind.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It was my dad.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Crow felt paralyzed. His mind carried him back to all of the kids who had dragged themselves bloody and bruised into one of the hideouts. He thought about the kids who had made it, but hadn’t been the same afterwards.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He thought back to the kids that hadn’t made it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>At that moment, he decided he would be adopting the boy in front of him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He thought quickly and decided that if the kid was telling him this, either something had changed or was about to. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Dang, kid! If your dad is built like you, most adults couldn't take a beating from him! You're strong like a bull, ain't you?" A light bulb went off in his head. "That's what I'll call you! Bull!"  He snorted as Bull choked on air.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"If you told me about him, you just got him out of your life. New name, New you!" Crow tried to seem confident despite being extremely shaken. “I’ve found it works flawlessly!” As Bull giggled wetly at the comment, he couldn’t help but think one thing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>After all, it worked for a boy named Lester.</span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Yo yo yo that was emotionally draining! UwU</p><p>I’m planning on writing a Crow epilogue, just because I have some stuff that I want to wrap up for this arc, and then I’m going to write a Retropolis epilogue. That’s going to jump off from where Bibi gets to Retropolis and just kind of highlight some various things to date. I.E, where they will be picked up during the last arc of this book by some... people... yeah. Mmhmm. Not being suspicious.<br/>Anywho, ginormous thanks to QueenCollie (fanfiction only) and SammyScripts (Sammy_Scripts on Ao3) for letting me use their characters! Roxy, formerly Cheetaria, belongs to Collie and Mrs. Corduroy belongs to Sam and appears exclusively in We’re Keeping Her! Both of these writers are really great, so you should totally check them out if you haven’t done that!<br/>Thank you, please keep reading, and goodnight!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Crow arc epilogue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>tying up some loose ends with Crow.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Trigger warnings: a swear. that's it.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>His family adopted Bull and his mom, Mrs. Michela, almost as soon as they met. Crow was already emotionally attached to the poor kid, so he spent most weekend nights with the Trankstons. Bull was accepted into the gang almost immediately, and soon became a staple around one hideout or another.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As much as Bull was adopted into Crow’s family, Crow was also adopted into his. Crow walked Bull home more often than not, and Mrs. Michela almost always asked him if he wanted to stay over for dinner.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As a result, he was at Bull’s side for most of the major changes in his life. He was talking with Mr. Tsunematsu on the night Bull met him, and he heard Bull’s honest opinion of him the day after. He watched over Bull's shoulder as his mom and Mr. Tsunematsu fell in love, and provided counsel and an escape, if necessary. He sat next to Bull at their wedding, and took him home afterwards. He talked Bull out of a panic attack when his mom and dad fought. Crow wasn’t there when Bibi was born, but he was at the hospital soon after Bull texted him the news. He currently had a very cute picture of baby Bibi holding on to his beak hanging on his wall.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Finding out Bull was a brawler was an interesting experience.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The two boys had been hanging out with some of the other kids that day, including Roxy. The cheetah had been showing off the weapons meant to be used as her main attack, a trio of shiny, black-and-white shurikens. This prompted one of the other kids to ask about how Crow was a brawler, which he was always happy to talk about.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> "Yeah, s'all genetics. Apparently, my ancient relatives or something were brawlers, so I got the genes from them." He looked at Bull out of the corner of his eye. The kid was staring intently at his hand, as if the appendage had just called his mom a ho. He seemed to be deep in thought. Crow's attention was pulled away when another kid asked him about his weapons. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh, yeah, I can just-" he tensed his hands quickly, and a handful of daggers appeared in each. He fanned them out like cards and held them out so the other boys could see. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Hey Crow? Teach me how you did that." Crow looked back at Bull, who was still staring at his hands. He walked over to where the boy was sitting, and, thinking it couldn't hurt, coached him through summoning a weapon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He didn’t expect it to actually work. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His friend did everything Crow told him, and at the end of the process, he was sitting in stunned silence with a shotgun in his hands. Crow dragged him home almost Immediately, and took the time to explain when Mrs. Michela asked how Bull could be a brawler. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That night, he spent a good hour ranting to Lucy, who couldn’t decide if her little brother was concerned or angry enough to sucker punch God. She assumed it was a mixture of both.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thankfully, finding out Bibi was a brawler was a lot less concerning, even if it was still just as surprising. It was also entertaining to watch her kick everyone’s ass in softball. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Time passed, and Bull seemed to grow more and more comfortable around the gang and around Crow. The two bonded over just about everything. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Including a need to get up and go.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Crow had sat through Bull’s graduation, teary-eyed and proud. Now just a few weeks after, he was about to go with Bull to the one place he had wanted to go his entire life. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Brawltopia.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The family exchanged sad goodbyes as Bull and Crow prepared to leave. The boys had visited Crow’s family the night before and said their goodbyes, so all that was left to do was leave.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As Crow got behind the wheel of the beat-up Jeep, he felt a tear sink into his feathers. Mentally, he thanked all his friends for what they had done for him</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He thanked his family.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And the rest, as they say, is history. Retropolis epilogue should be out soon! Until then, Thank you, please keep reading, and goodnight!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Retropolis Epilogue: Something More Than a Gang</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A new challenger approaches!</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Trigger Warnings: Swearing, because Jacky.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>"Order up! Bibi, quit slacking!"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah yeah, calm your pompadour bro!" Bibi shouted and stuck a tongue out at her brother, who returned the gesture with an eye roll. The sixteen-year-old slid the tray off of the counter and into the crook of her elbow before she repeated the process with the other tray and took off across the restaurant to go serve another family.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Since she had arrived, things had started looking up for the Trankston-Tsunematsus and Crow.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Both restaurants owned by the family, Bull's Diner and Udon With That, were flourishing. The owners of both were considering expanding, Bull to another building in Retropolis, and Mr. Tsunematsu to another wedge of Brawltopia. He hadn’t decided which yet, which was fortunate, because his wife was a real estate agent. The two had been spending quality time together while looking at possible buildings.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Crow was moving up in the gang. He had become one of the higher-ups and had been tasked with expansion. He now operated a sort of retrieval system, to get people into Brawltopia who weren’t safe where they lived. Bibi helped him out when she wasn’t at her new school or working at Bull’s place.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Crow, who had long since retired from the diner, walked in the door, chatting with Jacky. Ever since they helped to renovate the diner, Jacky and her demo crew had become close friends with Crow, Bull and Bibi. Carl had convinced Bull to start serving robot-friendly dishes. Which were more half-dead batteries than anything, but it made the geology robot (and his autonomous friends) happy. It also attracted an... interesting set of customers, including the ever-famous Pam, her family, and the family robot, who Carl had apparently talked about for hours after meeting her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Crow and Jacky sat down at the counter, still talking.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"It would need to be huge."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"And how do you plan on getting the fucking land for that, bird brain?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"The first rule of a gang is 'don't ask questions'."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"You're fucking mental." The man at the bar, a young Brawler with liquid, purple-tinted hair, laughed and shot one of his attacks, a drop of his hair filled with bits of shell, at the counter. The projectile bounced off the counter and hit Jacky on the underside of the chin, making her shirt wet. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"I oughta fuck your shit up for that, Grape Juice," she growled in her heavy accent, standing up on the bar stool and looming threateningly over the poor kid. He just laughed again.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Don't swear, Jacky. There are kids in here." Jacky sat back down with a huff and began digging through her bag.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Suck a-" drill noises censored the next word- "Beckham," she said, smirking across the counter. She had pulled a small handheld drill out of her work bag, and was now resting it on the bar.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"No drills at the counter, Jacky." Beckham twisted away from Jacky's hands as she lunged at him and went to go serve another customer.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Bull shook his head at their antics and went back to reading orders. He threw three more burgers on the grill and put cheese on two of them, before going to the other side of the grill, throwing a slab of hash browns onto a different burger, putting it on a plate, and bringing it to the window so Bibi could take it to a customer.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Order up!"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That was when he saw that peculiar group walk in.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>There was a man with slicked back brunet hair, but that was about as normal as he got. He was a full head and shoulders above any of his friends, and he was extremely muscular. Bull had no doubt the man could give him a run for his money when it came to strength. Standing next to him was a girl with bright purple hair, looking warily around the diner. While she wasn't nearly as muscular as her friend (brother? cousin? boyfriend?), she was toned, and that was almost as frightening.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Just behind them stood a pair of relatives. Everything about them screamed that they were related, from the way they stood with each other to their hair, which was so red it almost verged on pink and was probably entirely unique to their family.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Bibi was the one who sat them, and she led them over to a booth just one away from the large one in the corner. As she walked away, the group immediately leaned in and started talking.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Okay, so they were secretive, but most of the customers weren't exactly broadcasting their conversations to the world at large. Bull shrugged and went back to his cooking. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A few orders later, Bibi came up, ready to grab the next set of trays. As she did, she leaned through the window to talk to Bull.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"They keep looking at Crow and Beck and then going back to their conversation. It's weird," she whispered, tilting her head slightly towards the booth that the group was sitting at. Bull nodded and told his sister to go back to serving. After she left, he pulled one of the younger chefs, a girl named Stacy, aside.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Hey, kid. I can take over your station, but I need you to go pretend to be a customer. Keep an eye on the group in the corner for me, and if they start to do anything besides talking and staring, knock on the counter a lot or something, yeah?" Stacy nodded and left the kitchen through the back door, grabbing the hoodie she had left there on the way out. A few seconds later, he spotted her walking through the front door out of the corner of his eye.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A couple more orders passed before Dynamike and Carl walked in and sat down next to Jacky. Beckham took their orders and shouted back to Bull, who ran out back to grab a can of oil and a handful of D- batteries for Carl. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>When he came back in, furious tapping was echoing throughout the restaurant. It took him a moment to realize that that was probably Stacy, letting him know something was amiss. He set the oil where it wouldn't spill on someone else's food and went to check out the window.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The purple haired girl and the brunet man were sitting at the counter, just a single seat away from Crow.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He gave a single wave in Stacy's direction, and the knocking cut off. He then tried to analyze the situation. The duo seemed to be waiting for his friend to finish his conversation with Jacky, which probably wouldn't take much longer. Once that girl brought out her sketchbook, she could draw up plans in a matter of minutes, which would end their talk about whatever Crow needed built. Bull needed to intervene, and fast.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So he walked out the door that led from the kitchen to the bar and went to address the strange people.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"'Scuse me. Can I help you two?" Both of the people looked up at him. He did his best to seem important and slightly miffed. But the man simply sat up a bit, and then he was nearly eye-level with the chef.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Ah, si señor. That, er, Bird-man over there. He is a brawler. Yes?" The man spoke in english that was a bit broken, and with a heavy accent.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Bull went into full on panic mode.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>This </span>
  <em>
    <span>whole ass human</span>
  </em>
  <span> just asked him if his </span>
  <em>
    <span>best friend</span>
  </em>
  <span> was a </span>
  <em>
    <span>brawler</span>
  </em>
  <span>. The dude looked like he could be a </span>
  <em>
    <span>professional wrestler</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and he just asked if Crow was a </span>
  <em>
    <span>brawler</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So he did what any sane human would do in that situation. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He puffed out his chest, stood a little taller, and asked, "Why you wanna know?" The girl put a hand on her friend's shoulder and began speaking with a slight Spanish accent, much lighter than her partner's.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Hey, man, we mean no harm. We just wanted to know-" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Sure ya did. You wanted to know so you could beat him in an alleyway. Now, you have five seconds-" he held his hand up to emphasize his point- "To get out of my diner before I make you get out," he growled. But the antagonizers weren't listening. They were staring at his hand. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Which, he was coming to realize, was the hand that bore the marking for his super button. Which was more visible than normal, seeing as he, Crow, Bibi, and Beckham had fought the day before to let off some steam, and his super was still partially charged.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The man leaned back in his seat as much as he could, given that it was a stool, and the girl leaned forward. She also gained an inch or two, making Bull think she had probably just sat on her foot.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"So, you're a brawler too then?" He grimaced at the woman's question and cursed himself for being so careless. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah." </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You the owner of this place?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yep.” At this, the brunet leaned forward too, seemingly excited about something. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"So, you're Bull?" he nodded. "Well, Bull, I've got a question for you. Have you thought about expansion?" He raised an eyebrow.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"As a matter of fact, I have. Why do you want to know? And why should I listen to a word you say when you been staring at my customer and my bartender like a couple of creeps?" The woman nodded at her friend, who held up his hand. Bull had to squint, but he could see the faint outline of a super. The brunet smiled charmingly and held the hand out for a shake.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Hola, amigo. My name is Raphael, but you can call me-" he pulled a mask out of his back pocket and pulled it over his head- "El Primo."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Bull gaped at the man, now recognizable with his signature mask. He was a world-famous wrestler. Or, he had been, until someone found out that he was a brawler and got him kicked out of the organization he worked for and blacklisted from every other circuit. He hadn’t been using his brawler traits to wrestle, people were just scared of him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Which was </span>
  <em>
    <span>bullshit</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but there was no time to reflect on that because the woman was talking to him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m a brawler too, but my super is on my gun, and I’m guessing you don’t want guns in your restaurant. Both of our friends are brawlers as well.” She jabbed a thumb at her booth, where the redheads were still sitting. The man gave a dazzling grin and made finger guns in their general direction, and the woman smiled cheerily and waved. “Now, about expansion,” continued the purple haired woman.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“And who is this offer coming from?” Bull grunted. She got up from her stool and extended a hand. As he shook it, she introduced herself.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“The name’s Shelly,” she said cockily, “and I have a hell of a property for you, if you're willing to invest in a little passion project of ours.” Bull propped himself up on his elbows. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Tell me, Shelly, what’s the name of this so-called passion project?" Shelly grinned.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s called Brawl Stars.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Fun fact: the official title for the retropolis overarc (Crow, Bull, and Bibi) is Something More Than A Gang (I Dare Say We’re a Family). So, that’s a thing.<br/>I’m going to be posting a short Thanksgiving thing before I start the next arc, the Southern Bell arc, which would be Rico (aka ????) and Piper. So, after this absolutely monumental occasion (for me at least), thank you, please keep reading, and goodnight!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Piper arc Chapter One</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Brawlatrophy and little kids</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Trigger warning: minor discrimination.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>She had known she was a brawler since before she could properly talk. Her parents' favorite nickname for her was "little fighter", and they were constantly telling her stories about brawlers of old. Her parents loved to tell her about how she had summoned her weapon when she was just a baby and dropped it on the doctor's toes. Her name was still on a wall somewhere in the hospital, on a small metal umbrella cutout. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Piper Louise Lupont, Earliest Presenting Brawler.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Finding out not everyone was okay with brawlers was less of a surprise and more of a disappointment. She had always known that people were mean to those with brawlatrophy, the condition that made someone a brawler, for no reason. In her parents' stories, brawlers often faced such discrimination. She just didn't think it would surface in her own family.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The Christmas that she was five, she had been gaily regaling her relatives with stories she had heard from her parents. Her aunts and uncles would smile and laugh as she told them, but even as a child she could tell that a few of the smiles were forced. When she was sent to bed, she decided to camp out on the staircase instead, so she could listen to the adults talking. She couldn't hear everything, but she could make out words like "vermin" and "tainted". It wasn't until she heard her mother's screech echo up from the kitchen that she figured out what the conversation was about.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"She can't help the way she is, Lucille!" Piper sat frozen in fear and shock.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>They're talking about me</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she thought, biting her lip to keep it from trembling.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"I know that, but you shouldn't enable her! She's your daughter, not your friend!" Her aunt and mother were cut off with a sharp cry of "Ladies!" from her father, but the damage had already been done.  The people at the party could see Piper, sitting on the steps and close to tears.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Her mother took a few steps towards her. "Piper," she said. Piper covered her mouth and shook her head before dashing up the stairs and to her room. She flung herself into her bed and buried her head in her pillow, already starting to cry. As her small shoulders shook, she began to drift off to sleep.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>When she woke up the next morning, she marched like a small soldier down to breakfast and plopped herself in her booster seat with all the grace she could manage. Her parents shared a look from where they were chatting by the coffee pot before going to sit on either side of her. Her Mom pulled a package of Pop tarts out of the cupboard before walking over, handing it to Piper before sitting down. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Good morning, little fighter." her dad said, pulling the newspaper on the table open.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Good morning, daddy." </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Hey, sweetheart. Me and daddy saw you on the stairs last night when I was talking to aunt Lucy."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Mrs. Michaels says it's daddy and I, mommy." </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Mrs. Lupont laughed at this. "Right, daddy and I. But, Piper, we wanted to ask you how much of the argument you heard, and if you're okay." </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Piper sniffed and took a dainty bite of her pop tart. "I was sad last night, but now I'm okay, because it means I'm going to become one of the big cool brawlers that we see on TV. I'm going to be a hero, like them!" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"What makes you say that? I thought you wanted to work with fashion," Mr. Lupont said.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Well yes, but you know what Spiderman says about power and responsibility. They coral-late." Both Mr. and Mrs. Lupont smiled at their daughter's words.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Sweetie, It's correlate, not coral-late. And just because you're a brawler doesn't mean you have to be famous." Piper scoffed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Mommy, I wasn't saying I'm going to be a hero because I'm a brawler. Stacy in the other kindergarten class is a brawler, and she's never going to be a hero." Mrs. Lupont covered her mouth to hide her laughter as her husband nearly spat out his coffee.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Piper, that isn't nice!" Mr. Lupont scolded.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Neither is she, daddy. But I'm going to be a hero because someone was mean to me about my brawl-trophy, and I'm going to rise above it. You and mommy always say that all the great stars were people who rose above discrimi... discri... mean words." she eventually settled on, before taking another bite of her pop tart. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Piper, that's not what we meant. Someone being mean to you doesn't automatically make you a hero. Only you can do that."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Piper looked at her pop tart contemplatively. After she finished her breakfast, she marched back up to her room in that same solemn way she had when she came down for breakfast.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>About twenty minutes later, she came back down, dressed in a black dress and wearing a bright yellow mask across the top half of her face. She had her hair tucked under a black beanie, and she had draped a red cloth across her umbrella.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Piper, dearest, what are you doing?" Mrs. Lupont asked.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm going to go be a hero, mommy." Mr. Lupont sprung out of his seat to go grab his daughter.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Why don't mommy and I help you until you're older?" he said, sweeping her into his arms and carrying her towards the couch.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Fine."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span class="u">
    <b>Time skip brought to you by small children misunderstanding things</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Two weeks later, Piper was standing in front of a town hall with her parents, holding a sign that read "I Have Brawlatrophy, I'm not a brawl atrocity". She was surrounded by others, some milling about preparing to march, others standing solemnly on the lawn of the town hall. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A few days before, a young brawler by the name of Nathan had died after a doctor refused to treat his injuries from a car crash. It was not the first time a brawler had been refused medical care, so some friends of Nathan had gathered a few brawler right activists to lead a protest in his honor. The group planned to march around the city, then stop on the lawn of the town hall in silent protest.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Piper held her sign steady in her small hands as her father lifted her onto his shoulders. Her parents had said that this was how she would become a hero. She could make a difference.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So she held her sign over her head as her daddy walked, chanting with all the others walking beside her. At one point, a man with a microphone stopped her daddy and asked to talk to her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Hey, kiddo, what's your name?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Piper. What's yours?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Well, my name is David O'Connor. Can you tell me what your sign says, Piper?" Piper smiled.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"I have Brawlatrophy, I'm not a brawl atrocity!" she recited. Mr. O'Connor smiled.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"That's really cool! Did you think of that yourself?" Piper nodded excitedly. "Wow." Mr. O'Connor readjusted his tie. "So, Piper, why are you here, at the protest?" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Piper looked him in the eye and confidently said, "I'm going to make a difference, and this is how I can start."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>After that interview, her notoriety grew faster than she did. By the time she was six, people across the country knew her name. Piper, the Little Hero. People would come up to her on the street and ask for an autograph or a hug. People would yell dirty slurs at her from the opposite sidewalk, and she would wave at them and smile brightly.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Of course, once she went to the first protest, she was hooked. She kept begging her parents to take her to protests across the country, and she soon became a staple at most protests. People would seek her out at protests to make sure she had everything she needed. Anytime any sort of news station, Paper or otherwise, reported on a rally she was in the article somehow. Piper became a national symbol for brawler rights. Not in the sense that she walked around yelling about it constantly, but she was </span>
  <em>
    <span>there</span>
  </em>
  <span> and helping.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And, if she met her boyfriend at a protest, all the better for her.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Okay, that’s better. Again, i am really sorry for take one of this chapter, but let’s forget it ever existed after this one, yeah? Anywho, i’m still taking a break from this story. You’ll see why later! So, to all you loyal readers, thank you, please keep reading, and goodnight!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Piper Arc Chapter Two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Trigger warnings: Game typical violence, protesting, a gunshot</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Piper whirled around to fire a quick shot at the wooden target before turning back just in time to dodge her trainer's strike. She swept the man's feet out from under him and pressed the yellow button on her parasol, launching herself into the air and away from the man. As she jumped, she left four explosives on the ground behind her. They made quick work of the man, who was dissolving away as she landed. After just a minute, he reappeared on the balcony above her head, laughing. Piper shook her head and made her way to the exit of the arena to go talk to her mentor.</p><p>"When did you get so good, little fighter? You'll be brawling with the pros in no time at all!" Her father walked over and patted her on the shoulder as her trainer, Damien Anderson, beamed at her.</p><p>"Daddy, this ain't my first rodeo, and I've learned from the best." Damien smiled again and rubbed her head, pulling a few strands of hair out from her ponytail.</p><p>"Flattery won't get you anywhere, kid. You're still doing conditioning tomorrow." Piper groaned, much to the amusement of her father.</p><p>"Conditioning can't be that bad."</p><p>"It can too be that bad, daddy! I want to learn how to brawl so I can make it big and help people, not how to run around for hours on end without a single confrontation!" Damien laughed.</p><p>"You march around in those rallies of yours but you can't handle a few laps?"</p><p>"Those rallies of mine are exciting, Damien. Running is just... repetitive."</p><p>"So you're saying you want me to randomly throw things at you?" Piper laughed again, especially when her father made a frightened face at Mr. Anderson.</p><p>"I think it would be easier if I had someone to run with."</p><p>"Other than me?"</p><p>"Mr. Anderson, I don't think you've said two words to me on a run in my life." Damien looked at her thoughtfully before pulling out his phone. He typed a few things into it and tucked it back into his pocket a second after it vibrated.</p><p>"My son will be coming to training tomorrow. You can run with him. I'm going to go lock up. Piper, I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning." Damien walked away, leaving both Luponts standing in the viewing area stunned.</p><p>Piper shook herself out of her stupor just long enough to ask, "Wait, he has a son?"</p><p>
  <span>
    <strong>Time skip brought to you by a hatred of running (I feel ya piper)</strong>
  </span>
</p><p>Piper walked in the next morning to see Mr. Anderson and a boy who she assumed to be his son stretching. The two stood up in near unison, once they had finished, and Mr. Anderson trotted away to get something, waving to her as he did. The boy turned around and flashed a grin at her as he started to walk over.</p><p>He was wearing a gray tank top with purple detailing up the sides and a neon green Nike symbol on the chest. Despite it's fluorescent flair, his shirt was not what drew her attention.</p><p>Where his right eye should've been, there was a large, corny yellow eye with a black 'X' for a pupil. Metal extended up his forehead and across his skull, and a second sheet wrapped around his shoulder. When he raised a hand to wave at her, she noticed that the limb was a prosthesis.</p><p>"Hey, Piper, right? The name's Mark." Piper pulled her eyes away from His hand and held out her own, locking eyes with Mark.</p><p>"Yes, Piper. It's very nice to meet you, Mark." Despite her best efforts to remain casual, her eyes kept darting to his yellow eye. She tried to re-orient herself and offered her hand to shake, flinching just a bit when she was met with cold plastic. She sucked in a breath as she saw him wince just a second after her reaction. "Mark, I am so sorry. You just... shocked me, is all."</p><p>"It's... don't worry about it. It happens a lot." Mark replied, rubbing the back of his neck. Piper laughed awkwardly for a few seconds before visibly slumping in relief as Mr. Anderson jogged back over, clutching a trio of water bottles.</p><p>"Alright. You two ready?" Both teens nodded vigorously. Mr. Anderson swung his hand towards the door. "Alright then. Let's get going!" They walked out towards the street and began running. Damien led Piper and Mark, who were running side-by-side behind him.</p><p>It was a very uncomfortable few minutes before Piper and Mark started talking. They trotted along in near silence, the quiet broken up only by their feet on the pavement.</p><p>"So, what're your stats? If you don't mind me asking."</p><p>Piper's eyes widened in surprise when she heard Mark's voice. She looked over at him, clearly jarred, and he nervously bit his lip.</p><p>"Shit, Piper, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were one of the people who thought it was rude to ask."</p><p>"No, I don't mind." Mark smiled, clearly relieved. "You're gonna have to make sure I don't run into anything while I check, sugar, I don't have it memorized." Mark drifted just a bit closer to her, and once she felt she was in good hands she closed her eyes and called her stats to her mind. A blue box faded into view, and she read off the numbers displayed there.</p><p>"Right now, my health is 2880, attack is 520 at minimum and 1748 at max, and my super is 1035 per hit."</p><p>"Wait, what do you mean by min and max?"</p><p>"My attack does more damage depending on how far it travels."</p><p>"Wait, really?" Damien smiled as he heard the teens behind him strike up a conversation. He had been worried with the way Piper had reacted to Mark's prosthetics, but now they seemed to be getting along fine. They were so deep in their conversation that they didn't notice him extending their run by half a mile.</p><p>When the trio got back to the gym, Mr. Anderson led them through Piper's typical conditioning routine, which was apparently different from Mark's if the way he performed during some of the exercises was anything to go by. He collapsed dramatically after a few sets of burpees, and he went off to go do target practice the second Piper hauled out her miniature trampoline. After she had finished for the day, Mark paused what he was doing to say goodbye.</p><p>"Why are you even trying to jump higher? Your super's range won't change, you know."</p><p>"Helps with the landing. I almost broke an ankle the first time I tried my super. That's actually why I'm here in the first place." Mark nodded in understanding as the two meandered towards the door. When they were just a few feet away, he spoke up again.</p><p>"I know who you are, you know. I've seen videos of you. I don't think there's a brawler who hasn't."</p><p>"That's the idea, sugar," she replied. Mark gestured for her to explain. "When I was little, I told myself I was going to be a hero and help people however I could. If even one person sees videos of me at a rally and it helps them, then I'm doing what I want to do."</p><p>"Thank you." He turned around to face Piper, stopping her in her tracks. "I'm basically a fate brawler, so people usually don't have too much empathy for me. It's nice to know that someone like you cares about us little guys." Piper smiled and, before she knew what she was doing, stood on tiptoes to give Mark a peck on the cheek.</p><p>"There's a rally exactly three weeks from now. We're going to meet at the Wal-mart at noon, if you want to join us." Piper walked around the stunned boy in front of her and pushed the door open, throwing a quick "have a nice day" over her shoulder.</p><p>"You too," Mark mumbled. He walked away to go find his bag, still in a shocked daze.</p><p>
  <span>
    <strong>Time skip brought to you by these two lovestruck dorks</strong>
  </span>
</p><p>Three weeks later, Mark met Piper at the protest. After a successful sit-down on main street, Mark pulled Piper aside and asked her on a date. She said yes, and the two could be seen picnicking in the local park a couple of days after the protest.</p><p>After the first date, Mark and Piper's relationship soon became a whirlwind romance. It was only a few weeks before the couple was going on a date every weekend, and they often stayed at one another's house just to spend time with one another. It was clear to everyone around them that they were in love, and Piper once found a notebook labeled "Wedding Ideas" on her mother's nightstand.</p><p>When they graduated, they didn't go to the same college, but the schools they went to were within twenty minutes of each other by car. Soon enough, Piper graduated from Bunker Hill Community College with a degree in Baking and Pastry Arts. She got a full-time job at a local, family owned bakery and supported herself and Mark as he worked on his Biological Engineering degree. The day he graduated, she showed up at the graduation wearing her best dress and shaking flour out of her hair.</p><p>She ran into his arms and he twirled her around in a hug before dropping to one knee and pulling out a ring. They were married that March, when Mark had just turned twenty three and Piper was twenty-two.</p><p>After that, people started referring to them as the brawler power couple. They appeared on the cover of <em>Brawl News</em>, a brawler-centric magazine that featured current brawler celebrities. They appeared in interviews on several popular talk shows, and were bombarded with fans anytime they appeared anywhere that wasn't a rally.</p><p>"Mark, hand me that yellow paint, would you?"</p><p>"Sure baby." Mark tossed a small container of yellow face paint towards his wife, which she snatched out of the air.</p><p>"Thank you sugar." She quickly opened the container and began smearing the words "BRAWLERS UNITE" across her face. Mark wrapped his arms around her shoulders and stole a container of red paint from in front of her. He opened the container and dabbed a small heart on the side of her nose.</p><p>"I was going to put letters there."</p><p>"Skip it!" Piper rolled her eyes and continued writing the words on her face. Mark smiled as she conveniently bent her letters around the heart.</p><p>After a short car ride, they arrived at the protest. Piper waved as she walked out, and a few people who Mark recognized from other protests waved back. Mark and Piper took their place up near the front, seeing as the organizers had asked Piper to lead the march. After about half an hour of standing around, they were finally off and walking. The march was relatively successful. They had gone about ten blocks and they hadn't been attacked yet.</p><p>And then they heard the gunshot.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>All death threats can be sent directly to me via PM :) (is what I would say if I were on FF or Wattpad)<br/>By the way- *Loud knocking* Send help. *Sammy appears in window* He’s coming.<br/>Thank you, please keep reading, and goodnight!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. To Die, To Sleep (To Dream Before The Bullet)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Trigger Warnings: Semi-graphic Violence, lots of death. If you don’t think you can handle this chapter, I’ll summarize it in the next!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>When he heard the gunshot, his first instinct was to save Piper. In less than a second of rushed reasoning, he figured the shooter was aiming for his wife, so he pushed her out of the way. As he watched her fall, he saw the shooter. He was standing on a balcony just in front of them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His gun was aimed directly at them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Mark realized he was going to die. He tried to close his eyes to wait for the bullet, but his lids moved at a snail’s pace. Suddenly, his view of the world was obscured by an image of his parents taking him to see a small town brawl. He recognized the image as his earliest memory. When they said that your life flashed before your eyes when you were about to die, Mark had always thought they had meant more figuratively. Yet here he was, seemingly about to literally watch his life play out in his mind in his final moments. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mentally, he shrugged and settled in for the ride.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Most of his childhood went quickly, seeing as he had lived a fairly normal life until The Accident. His dad had still been in college, working to become a physical trainer, and his mom had been working for his Uncle Lex at his salon.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Most of Mark's early years consisted of spending time at the salon or training with his dad when he wasn’t in school. These memories flitted across his consciousness like leaves in a breeze.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Every part of him screamed to stop watching as a dark night flitted into view. He immediately started trembling as he recognized the place where The Accident had happened. He begged himself to turn back, but his mind wouldn’t let him. He mentally braced for impact as the memory started in earnest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mark had been walking with his uncle late at night after a basketball game when they heard screaming coming from a side alley. His uncle had quickly dashed in, and Mark chased after him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A woman stood at the back of the alley, pinned to the wall by a man holding a gun. Mark watched as his uncle Lex stepped up to confront the man, shouting at him to stop. When the man ignored him, Uncle Lex grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He quickly caught a bullet to the chest at point-blank range for his trouble.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mark whimpered in horror as the man who had acted as a second father to him fell to the ground, dead. He watched as the man turned back to his victim and held the gun to her temple. Somewhere in his anger- and terror-fueled fever dream he heard the assailant say that the woman would pay for her sins.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With his veins running with rage and fear, Mark summoned his brawler weapon for the first time. His hands were shaking badly as he held the oversized, bulky gun towards the man.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Let her go."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The man sneered at him and pulled the trigger of his own gun, killing the woman he had against the wall instantly. Mark flinched away from the bloody scene and felt like he wanted to throw up, but he stayed strong, just like how his dad and his uncle had taught him to.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"So, you're one of those freakshows too." As the man came closer, Mark felt his resolve weakening.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"If you come any closer, I'll shoot! I will!" he shouted with a sniff. The man just scoffed at him and grabbed his wrist, sending the gun skittering away. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Little freak." The man growled, throwing Mark onto the ground. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Everything went back after that as the memory faded away, giving way to shots of Mark trying to learn how to use his new prosthesis. His hand had been crushed beyond repair, making it so that he needed an amputation. Mark had begun homeschooling, and any time he didn’t spend at the salon, which his mother now owned, was spent with his father.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The bullet crept closer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mark was swept back away into his head, this time greeted with a memory of his first meeting with Piper. He smiled at how awkward they had both been then, stumbling around with their words as they tried not to offend each other. He remembered how easily conversation had come once they had begun running.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mark smiled as the rest of his life flicked through his head like a line of film. As the reel wore on, Piper started appearing more and more. Soon, he was taking her out on a date. They were going to protests together. Suddenly, he was graduating from college, and scooping Piper into a hug, and asking her to marry him. She was working at that tiny bakery, and he was looking for a job, and they were happy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The last thing he saw as memories flitted away to some mysterious storage room was Piper expertly smearing the words "BRAWLERS UNITE" across her cheeks with a smile as the bullet hit his chest and time snapped back into full speed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And so Mark William Anderson, age twenty-six, died with a smile on his face.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Lex is dead and so is God.<br/>Friendly psa, naming Uncle Lex, well, Lex, was a complete accident. I wish no ill will against the youtuber Lex, I just thought the name fit really well for the character. Personality wise, I picture Uncle Lex to be really similar to real-life Lex, so that’s kind of how that came about.<br/>Serious note, thank you guys for being patient with that one! I know I left it on a cliffhanger, so I wanted to get this out as soon as possible. My life got really hectic over the past week, but it calmed back down a bit. I’m finishing my only exam tomorrow, so Piper 3 should be out soon! Also, If you can guess what the title is referencing, you get a virtual cookie. Until next time, thank you, please keep reading, and goodnight!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Piper Arc Chapter Three</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>My Therapist: Cryptid Jessie delivering ominous offers of help isn't real, she can't hurt you<br/>Cryptid Jessie delivering ominous offers of help:</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Trigger warnings: Non-graphic death, grieving</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Mark had pushed Piper to the ground and out of the way, so she thankfully didn't see her husband get shot. However, she did hear it, and the sound of his body hitting the pavement was enough to make her feel sick.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Then she heard something faint. It sounded like plastic skittering across the ground. Against her better judgement, she turned to look at Mark to try and figure out what it was, and turned back around to vomit almost as soon as she did. Everything about the sight was disturbing, but what really made her heart drop was thinking about how just half an hour ago, he had been putting face paint on her. She reached up, her fingertips brushing against the small red heart on the side of her nose. That was the straw that broke the camel's back, and Piper started to cry. Heavy, gut-wrenching sobs shook her entire body as she curled in on herself. After a few seconds, she felt a small hand on her shoulder. She took a deep breath to try to compose herself, then turned around to see a little girl wearing a loose yellow shirt and holding a small device.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Her Husband’s memory chip.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Piper held a shaking hand out, and the girl gave her the chip. Piper held it to her chest, fighting the urge to start crying again.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“My mom can probably help you with that, when you’re ready.” Piper looked up at the girl.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Who’s your mom, sugar?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Pam. Pam Junker.” With that, the little girl retreated into the crowd, leaving a shell-shocked Piper sitting on the ground, clutching all that was left of her husband to her chest.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>When the ambulance arrived, Piper decided to get moving. She hauled herself off the ground and began walking in the direction of her car. She didn’t realize that the keys were still in Mark’s pocket until she accidentally set off the car’s alarm trying to open the door. She jumped back by a few feet before nearly crumbling again. She stalked off to go see if she could find a cab, making a mental note to call a tow truck for her abandoned car. After just a few minutes, she was en route to her parents’ house.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>When she got there, her father opened the door, and she collapsed into his arms, still clutching Mark’s memory chip. Her father pulled her close as she began crying. Her tears quickly soaked through the shoulder of her father’s shirt as she let herself truly mourn for her husband.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Three days passed before she thought about that little girl again. Those days passed mostly in a blur of sleeping and watching reruns of old brawls with her dad.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“She has a daughter now, you know,” he said out of the blue one day. Piper looked up at his face sleepily.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Who?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Pam,” He said, gesturing to a close-up of the woman that had appeared on the tv screen. Piper stared at her father blankly, trying to process what he just said. “She married an EMT or something, and they had a kid.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That little girl’s face appeared in her mind, and all of a sudden, it seemed far too likely that she was actually the daughter of Pam Junker and that her mother actually could help. It seemed far too much to hope that she would be able to tell her husband goodbye, at the very least.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Piper glanced back at her room, her mind racing. “Daddy, If you could bring someone back from the dead, would you?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Was he ready to go?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” Her father snorted.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Piper, your old man ain’t as dumb as he seems. I know who you’re talking about. So, was Mark ready to go?” Piper bit her lip and looked out the window, where there was a flock of magpies gathered around her mother’s bird feeders. She counted nine of them before responding to her father.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“No, I don’t.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Then go bring him back.” Piper smiled at her father, stood up from the couch, and walked to her room to pack. A half-hour later, she was standing at the door, hugging her parents goodbye. She strolled down the street to her apartment to pick up a few more outfits and do some research.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“She lives in Brawltopia?” she asked nobody in particular. “Guess I’m catching a flight.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span class="u">
    <b>Time skip brought to you by ~true love~</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah, shit miss. I’m sorry. Are you okay?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Jeez Colt! Just knock the lady down, why don’t you?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Piper took the hand that was offered to her and hauled herself up, rubbing her hip. A concerned-looking woman handed her her duffel. Piper immediately pressed a hand against the outside pocket, checking to make sure the box containing Mark’s memory chip wasn’t damaged. She sighed in relief, pulled her suitcase off the ground, and held her hand out to the pair of redheads that she had run into.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“My name is Piper Lupont. I apologise, I wasn't watching where I was going.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Nah, you’re alright. My brother just doesn’t know how to walk.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey!” The girl smiled and shook her hand. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Maxima Price, but you can call me Max.” She jabbed a thumb towards her brother. “That’s Colton, but he goes by Colt.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Howdy,” he said, as he tipped an imaginary hat at her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, you wanna come have lunch with us? We’re just going to a cafe down the street, and it’s the least we can do for knocking you over.” Piper thought for a moment, then shrugged. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Why not. I haven’t eaten yet.” Max’s eyes lit up.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Cool!” She shouted before she ran off, screeching to a stop a couple yards in front of them. Piper turned to ask Colt what his sister was doing, and he shrugged. He explained as they started walking.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“She’s energetic. Probably excited to meet you, too.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Me?” Colts spread his arms and stepped back, forcing Piper to turn around to look at him. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Look at where we are, Piper.” He stepped forward again, gesturing for Piper to continue walking. “Over half of the people you’ll meet here are brawlers. Your name is one of the best known ones in the country. I’m surprised you aren’t wearing a disguise!” Piper smiled. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m glad I could reach so many people.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m glad you could too. You give people hope that this island won’t be so necessary someday.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Someday it won’t be.”  Colt smiled and looked back at his sister, who was bouncing on the balls of her feet just ahead. He waved to her, then shouted for her to go grab a seat. Max dashed away almost unnaturally quickly, disappearing around a street corner.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So why’d you finally decide to come to this hunk of rock, if you don’t mind telling me?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s no problem.” Piper paused as she tried to figure out how to word her next words. “I’m looking for someone who can help me.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Who?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Pam Junker. Her daughter said I could find her if I needed help.” Colt snorted and shook his head.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course it was Jessie.” Colt elaborated when Piper shot him a confused look. “I’ve met her. Our parents were best friends.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So you can take me to Pam?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, just… why don’t you eat with us first? You look dead on your feet.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s more lack of sleep, sugar. Lunch ain’t gonna help.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’ll help you de-stress.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Piper scoffed. “I don’t need to de-stress, I need to get things done. No offence to you or your sister.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“None taken. But seriously, I have been spending a </span>
  <em>
    <span>lot </span>
  </em>
  <span>of time around overworked people lately. Lunch breaks help! I promise, we’ll take you to Pam right after, ‘kay?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Piper sighed and let her shoulders slump. She gazed up at Colt with an exasperated smile on her face. “Fine. I can’t believe I’m going to lunch with a couple of strangers.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“We’ll be in a public place the whole time.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I was mostly joking but that is a very good point. Don’t kidnap me please.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Wasn’t planning on it. I can pay for lunch. Let me save your wallet. I know better than anyone how expensive flights to get here can be.” He blew out a puff of breath. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Max thought she wanted to go to college on the mainland.” Piper laughed, and the duo continued their conversation through lunch, changing from one topic to another with ease. Max included herself in their conversation almost as soon as they sat down, and lunch blew by. The group got up, paid, and left once they finished their meals. They walked for about a block before climbing into a shiny red car and driving off.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Piper admired the scenery as they drove out of super city. Most of the area was suburban away from the city, but she could already see the skyscrapers of the next town in the distance. It was just the nature of the Metropolis wedge. She settled into her seat, allowing her eyes to drift shut. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>When she woke up, the car was pulling to a stop in a rough parking lot at the edges of Retropolis. She blinked the sleep from her eyes as Colt and Max climbed out.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You awake Piper?” Max asked as Piper climbed out after them.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Partially.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I feel that,” Max replied. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, do you two want to start walking? Shelly’s gonna meet us in her truck.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Walking?” Piper asked with a stretch. Max pulled a pair of hiking boots out of the trunk and began lacing them up as Colt explained.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“The road to the Park isn’t paved, and our car can’t handle the desert. So someone has to come get us with a truck or a jeep. Something with four wheel drive, you know?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Piper nodded. “So we’re going to walk to meet them?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“That was the plan.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Piper grimaced at her luggage. Max seemed to notice where she was looking, because she walked around to the trunk of the car and grabbed one of Piper’s duffle bags.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“This one got enough clothes for you for the night? We can pop back over and grab the rest of your stuff later.” Piper grabbed the bag from Max’s hand and patted down the side pocket. She huffed a relieved little chuckle when she felt Mark’s chip in the pocket and slung the bag over her shoulder.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Let’s go.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span class="u">
    <b>Time skip brought to you by a really hecking long chapter</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A breeze began to blow as they walked, causing small whirlwinds of sand to appear in front of the trio and blow into their faces.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, stilts, walk in front of me so I keep the sand out of my eyes.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Stuff it, Max,” Colt snapped playfully. “Where did this wind come from anyways?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Probably the sky.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I said shut up, Max.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Piper grunted and wiped a few grains of sand out of her eyes. “Of all the days to walk through the desert, I choose the gustiest. Just my luck.”  Max chuckled nervously from somewhere besides her. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“The wind is kind of kicking up, isn’t it?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Colt swore as a pebble blew into his face and hit him on the bridge of his nose. “Okay, sandstorm’s coming. Max, run ahead and see if you can find a big rock.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Piper squinted at a large silhouette in the distance. “Colt, Is that a big enough rock?” The redhead blinked dumbly at the big shadow in the distance. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, that’s… exactly what I was talking about.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So you can’t walk or see? Batting oh for two, aren’t we Colt?” Max said with a smirk, before immediately turning around and starting to spit on the ground. “Pleh, pleh, sand in my mouth.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Instant karma,” Colt muttered, stalking off towards the rock. It only took a few minutes before the trio was at the boulder, circling it to try to find a cave that Jacky and Dynamike had carved into the side for that exact situation. The first cave they found was facing the wrong way, but they eventually found one that was facing away from the wind. They collapsed into it with an exhausted sigh, and Colt almost immediately began brushing sand out of his hair with a comb he produced from what seemed to be thin air. Max started teasing him tiredly as she laid on the floor. When the siblings seemed sufficiently distracted, Piper pulled Mark’s chip out of her bag and held it to her chest.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m coming Mark.” Suddenly, she had a head of red hair on either one of her shoulders.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Whatchya got there Piper?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She heaved an exasperated sigh. “Both of you need to go away.” Colt shrugged and stood up to go back to where he was, but Max remained leaning against Piper's shoulder.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I won’t tell. C’mon, I’m just curious.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Mark would like her.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s my husband.” Max blinked dumbly, and Piper could hear Colt choking on a sip of water.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Your </span>
  <em>
    <span>husband?”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Damn, you’re married? I was gonna set you up with Colt!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I have a girlfriend!” Colt cried indignantly from the other side of the cave.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Almost,” Max replied in a sing-song tone. “Anyway, Piper, you’re going to need to back up to the beginning, because I’ve gotta hear this story.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>With a final word count of 2196, this chapter is my longest one yet. Writing Colt and Max interacting was so much fun, and I am low key high key so hyped for their arc! There should only be one chapter left in this arc, and then I’m going to take a short hiatus from this story to write a romance oneshot. After that, It’s on to the next arc! It should be Junker arc (Pam, Jessie, Mr. Junker, and Nani) and then the price arc (Colt &amp; Max). Just as a warning, that one is probably going to be pretty heavy. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Thank you, please keep reading, and goodnight!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Nine For A Kiss</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A Happy *clap* fucking *clap* ending! also, appearances from some other brawlers because they're all little shits and I love them.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Trigger warning: Shelly's dirty mouth. Never leave her and Jacky alone with children.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Pssst, Piper! Wake up!" Piper blinked the sleep from her eyes as she sat up and stretched the sleep out of her limbs.</p><p>"Morning, Colt. Sandstorm over yet?" she asked groggily, still trying to wake herself up enough to process her surroundings.</p><p>"Yeah. Just so you know, it's not morning. It's like three A.M. Shelley just doesn't want us out here all night when we can go back. She and Bibi will be here in twenty minutes," he whispered. Piper stumbled to her feet and stretched one last time.</p><p>"Sounds good. I'll get my things together if you go wake up Max."</p><p>"I wasn't going to." He looked over his shoulder at the sleeping teen, who seemed to cuddle into the rock when she felt his eyes on her. "She has really bad nightmares,so I can't remember the last time she slept this soundly." Colt gave a single bitter chuckle. "Life just kind of kicked her ass, you know? She once told me that her awesome big brother is the only thing that keeps her going," he said dramatically with a wink. Piper smiled as she went to go grab her bag.</p><p>"I would believe it. You seem like a great support system." Colt blushed at that.</p><p>"No need to flatter me. Besides, we'll see how great of a support system I am when her girlfriend needs to carry her to the truck."</p><p>"Big brother ain't strong enough?"</p><p>"Big brother isn't gentle enough. Never have been. I'd wake her up." Piper put a hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles and went back to packing up. Fifteen minutes passed in comfortable silence before they heard an engine come to a stop just outside the mouth of the cave. A large truck, whose color was obscured by the darkness, had just pulled up, and two women were stepping out. The driver seemed to sport a ponytail that looked like it was suspended in midair, and the passenger wore her hair in a messy sort of pompadour style. The lady with the ponytail went to greet Colt, and the other one went to go grab Max.</p><p>"Piper, this is Shelly. Shelly-"</p><p>"Piper Lupont," Shelly whispered. "Nice to finally meet you. We should talk later, but right now we should get out of this sandy hell." Colt shivered, and Shelly snickered at him and slung an arm around his shoulders. They walked out of the cave, Piper following along behind them. When they reached the truck, Shelly pointed Colt towards the back seat, and Piper towards the passenger's seat.</p><p>"Bibi, Max alive back there?"</p><p>"Yeah. We're good."</p><p>"Alright. Vamonos, then!" The truck jolted into motion, surprisingly not waking Max up. It puttered along for a few moments, trying to find traction in the sand, before finally beginning it's trip. After a few minutes of relatively quiet driving, Piper's eyes slipped shut, and she was lulled back into sleep by the gentle humming of the motor.</p><p>"Max, time to get up! Piper, you too." Piper awoke with a start when the unfamiliar voice woke her, and she heard a snort from the backseat. She glanced out the window and noticed that the sun was just starting to rise. There were two figures milling about, both robots, but everyone human seemed to be asleep, or at the very least still in one of the tents set up across the area.</p><p>"Mm, hi baby. When'd you get here?" Max asked sleepily.</p><p><em>Ah, that must have been Bibi then,</em> she thought. "I apologise for falling back to sleep, Shelly."</p><p>The woman smiled at her from where she was trying to help a still-groggy Max out of the truck. "It's fine. Colt and Bibi fell asleep, too. What did you expect to happen at ass o'clock in the morning?"</p><p>"You actually came!" Shouted a red-headed girl who was sprinting up to them. Piper recognized the girl as the one from the protest, the daughter of Pam Junker. Shelly rolled her eyes at the girl.</p><p>"I'm going to go take a nap. Do what you need to do, then come find me. Deal?" Piper nodded and shouted a quick "thank you" as Shelly walked away.</p><p>"Come on, my mom's garage is this way!" The girl grabbed her hand and started pulling her in the direction of a particularly large tent. Piper couldn't help but notice that the tents scattered seemed to be circled around a large, flat area dotted in cactuses and nearly-dead grass.</p><p>"What are all those tents?"</p><p>"Work areas mostly, but a few of them are people's homes. At least, until we get actual buildings. The big yellow one is mine and my mom's, but we can't work where we live, so we made a big giant lean-to thing out of scrap metal!" The girl smiled brightly at Piper as she pulled her along, and it suddenly occurred to piper that she couldn't just keep calling the girl "the girl."</p><p>"Hey, sugar, what's your name?"</p><p>"It's Jessie!" The girl skidded to a stop, almost causing Piper to run into her. "We're here!" Sure enough, they had come to a stop in front of a large lean-to that had a curtain in place of a door. Jessie pounded on the side of the building three times, then moved the curtain aside after a few seconds of silence. Piper followed, and took a few seconds to marvel at the technology lining the walls. In the middle of the room, a woman who Piper assumed was Jessie's mother, the legendary Pam, stood hunched over a robot laying on a bench. The robot's chest cavity was open, and the woman was tinkering with something inside. Jessie cleared her throat.</p><p>"Mumma, I brought a guest." Pam looked up and raised an eyebrow over her thick goggles. Jessie made jazz hands at Piper, who confusedly did jazz hands herself with an uncomfortable smile. Pam grinned, lifted up her goggles, and rolled her eyes.</p><p>"Fine. Ungrounded. But the next time you run away at a protest, you're going to be stuck in your room for the rest of your life. Got it?"</p><p>"Got it," Jessie mumbled. The woman ruffled Jessie's hair and turned to Piper.</p><p>"Now, Piper, right? I'm Pam. I'm gonna guess you're here about your husband?" That half-smile that had graced Piper's face fell away. She bit back tears and nodded.</p><p>"Oh, sweetie." Suddenly, she was pulled into a fierce hug. "Mama Pam's here." Piper felt the tears threaten to spill over as she hugged the woman back just as tight. After a moment, a pair of small arms wrapped around her waist as Jessie joined in the hug. Piper gave herself a few more moments to compose herself, then slowly pulled away from the hug. Jessie scampered away to finish what her mother had started with the robot, and Pam pulled a small packet of tissues out of her pocket, which Piper graciously accepted.</p><p>"So, you got his memory chip, kiddo?" Piper nodded and pulled the chip out of her bag. Pam carefully took the box out of her hands. "Jessie, could you get Carl off the table?"</p><p>"He'll be on his way in thirty seconds! Just running diagnostics."</p><p>"Hello Mrs. Pam," The robot lisped from the bench. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Piper. I'm Carl."</p><p>Piper chuckled at the little robot. "Nice to meet you, Carl!" The machine he was hooked up to beeped, and Jessie pulled the wire off of his arm and helped him off the bench. As he left, Pam began bustling around the room, collecting bits and bobs from various places.</p><p>"'S your husband a Brawler?"</p><p>"Yes, he was." Pam nodded, and Jessie let out a small "oh" from where she was standing by a toolbox. "Is there a problem with that?" Piper tried to keep the steel out of her voice, but that was hard to do when she suspected someone of being brawlmisic.</p><p>"Nah, It's cool. Mom and I both are. But Mom always makes a blueprint, except for when her project is a brawler. Magic and all that, you know? It's like the brawler she's about to build possesses her."</p><p>"Magic?"</p><p>"Magic brawler building magic," Jessie clarified as she nodded sagely. Pam shot Piper a look that said "don't question it", so she nodded slowly at Jessie.</p><p>"Magic brawler building magic it is."</p><p>Once Pam seemed satisfied with the pile of random odds and ends she had gathered, she turned to Piper.</p><p>"I'm gonna warn you, this is gonna take a while. You can either stay here, or you can go wander around camp. Today's my day off from the Park, so there's no building going on. You should be able to find someone to talk to."</p><p>Piper bid the family goodbye and headed out the door, determined to figure out where Shelly was. So determined, in fact, that she was almost bowled over by a mountain of a man charging at full speed away from the open field she had noticed earlier. She let her instincts take over, managing to avoid the man by a hair's width. She sprinted away just far enough to do substantial damage, then turned on her heel and fired two shots at him. The comically large bullets sunk into his skin and he staggered from the impact, but remained on his feet. He clutched his side with one hand, but raised the other in a gesture of surrender. Piper lowered her gun, still breathing hard. The man began to snicker and shook his head, and Piper joined in with him. After a second, he walked up to her and held out his hand.</p><p>Even though he was a foot away from her, Piper still had to crane her neck to even see his face. She wasn't tall, but she wasn't exactly short. The man seemed to literally be a giant. When she took his hand\, he could have easily crushed her own.</p><p>"The name's Bull Trankston." Piper was snapped from her awe by the man's introduction.</p><p>"Piper. Piper Lupont."</p><p>"Hey, you're the lady that came in with Colt and Max this morning, right?" Piper tensed a bit at the new voice, but relaxed when she saw the people that she assumed had been brawling with Bull; a child of indeterminable gender with purple hair wearing a loose-fitting set of exercise clothes, a woman with a pink face wrap, and a man wearing only a pair of basketball shorts.</p><p>"Sandy, amigo, you must be less blunt. Like this," The shirtless man told the child before sauntering up to Piper. He was just as tall as Bull was. He held out a hand and Piper took it, expecting a handshake. What she didn't expect was for the man to bow down and kiss her knuckles before introducing himself.</p><p>"Hola, señora. my name is Raphael."</p><p>"You can call him Primo like the rest of us," The boy (if his voice was anything to go by) said with a tired smile.</p><p>"Sandy!" Raphael stood up abruptly. "Allow me to introduce myself, instead of doing it for me!" The boy, Sandy, shrugged tiredly as Raphael grumbled. The woman shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose.</p><p>"Sorry about them," Bull said, rubbing the back of his neck. "We can get rowdy. Anyways, did you need something? You look kind of lost."</p><p>"Well, I was looking for Shelly. She said she wanted to talk to me."</p><p>"My cousin is asleep right now, señora," Primo said. "Do you know why she wanted you?"</p><p>"No she just said to come find her." The woman wearing the face wrap let out a string of garbled noises.</p><p>"Calm down mom. I know you want another lady to hang out with, but you're going to overwhelm her," The boy replied tiredly. "Sorry, my mom only speaks djinnish. Her name's Tara. But yeah, Shelly's out cold at the moment." He yawned loudly. "If only, right?"</p><p>"I'm just damn fine, sandman." Everyone in the group turned to see an exhausted looking Shelly being trailed by Colt, who seemed to be about three seconds from carrying her back to bed. "Piper, I heard you were looking for me."</p><p>"Prima, I love you, but go back to bed."</p><p>"You look dead on your feet there, Shell."</p><p>"MMmMMM MmmmmMMmMmMmM MMMM MmmmmMmmMMmmMM!" Primo, Bull, and Tara all clamored at once. Shelly just scoffed at them and looked at Piper expectantly. She started to sway, but Colt ran up and caught her before she fell over.</p><p>"Lemme 'lone, red." Shelly tried to bat at Colt's hand, but it stayed firmly in place where he could support her. "Meh, whateva. Piper, I've..." Shelly dozed off for a second, but Colt shook her awake. She stood back up with a snort. "I've got a proposition for ya!" Piper glanced at the little group next to her, and they all made a "roll with it" gesture with their hands. Turning back to Shelly, she noticed Colt nodding his head.</p><p>"What's your proposition?"</p><p>"Join us, and put your support behind us. Your words have power. You could help us create a truly safe space for brawlers." Piper's eyes lit up as she considered the possibilities. She could have a hand in creating a world where no one else had to watch their loved ones die because of Brawlatrophy. All she had to do was say-</p><p>"Alright." A grin spread over Shelly's face, and a soft smile over Colt's. Another quick hum came from behind her, so she assumed Tara was cheering.</p><p>"Now, if you'll excuse us, Shelly here needs to go back to bed."</p><p>"No... mi amor, por favor," Shelly whined, weakly hitting Colt's chest as she was swept of her feet and carried away.</p><p>"Usually that's more formal. Like, fancy office meeting and junk," Sandy said.</p><p>"Really? She hired me at my restaurant after I threatened to kick her out."</p><p>"I'm sorry she <em>what?"</em></p><p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">Time skip brought to you by the tired latina</span>
  </strong>
</p><p>Piper sat curled against the outer wall of the Junkers lean-to, scrolling through her phone. Her fan email address had been flooded with words of empathy for the last few days, so she had been busy filtering through them. Suddenly, a stream of curses made their way out of the shack, making Piper jump.</p><p>"Banana oil! C'mere, I need to check you over one more time."</p><p>"No, I'm okay Ma'am. Seriously!"</p><p>"Just one more quick check to make sure!"</p><p>"Ma'am, I just wanna go find-!" Suddenly, a robot burst through the curtain. It stood about six and a half feet tall, with one glowing yellow eye in the center of its head, and a large black x in the center of that. There was a purple hat perched lopsidedly on its head, but it didn't wear any clothes other than that. "Piper?"</p><p>His voice, however flat and mechanical it sounded, made everything fall together in her head.</p><p>"Mark?"</p><p>Just like that, she was flinging herself into his arms. She tried not to wince as she made contact with hard metal, but she was okay. She was <em>okay</em> because this was <em>Mark</em> and she was back in his arms. She pressed a kiss to the rim of his eye.</p><p>"I love you."</p><p>"I love you too."</p><p><em>And isn't that a novel thing,</em> she thought, <em>That love can take me through the desert and back to you?</em></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And this arc is finally done! For those of you who were wondering, The official title of this whole arc is Love hurts, Hatred kills, And Pain Brings You Back. So in other news, I'm gonna take an itty bitty break from this story to write a one shot. What do you guys think about an Edgar + Colette Romcom that takes place at a comicon? It'll be funny, trust me. Also, how would you guys feel if I posted a Interlude for this arc that I decided to scrap? It would just be an extra chapter here, a little bit of Hey Now goodness to tide you guys over. Let me know in the comments! Next arc after the break should be the Junker arc! Side note, Tara's one line says "Go back to bed!", just cause you aren't gonna find djinnish on google translate.</p><p>Another thing: My lovely friend TheBrawlerina created a discord server for Brawl stars fanfiction! whether you're a veteran author or you binge-read this story in a week, come check it out at https://discord.gg/Cg7a7J7xQE! </p><p>Thank you, please keep reading, and goodnight!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Pam Chapter One</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Wham, bam, say hello to Pam!</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Definitely a warning here: character death. Gets a liiiiitle graphic but not a whole lot. Proceed with caution, and if it will bug you, skip the fifth section.</p>
<p>This chapter was sponsored by line breaks! line breaks: so you don't have to come up with five different time skips for a montage chapter!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><br/>Pamela Junker, age seven and a half, was having the time of her life.</p>
<p>"Scrap Attack!" She shouted with a laugh as she fired another shot at the bulky wooden target across the room. A scatter of shrapnel shot out of her newly-discovered weapon and lodged themselves in the target and surrounding wall. She let out another half-cackle as the target tipped over. Her father ran over and scooped her up in a hug, and her mother smiled fondly from where she was tinkering with a large robot in the corner of the garage. Pam ran over and threw her arms around her mother's waist, effectively pulling her away from her project.</p>
<p>"I can help ya finish later. Let's go get dinner!" Her mother smiled and patted her back.</p>
<p>"Don't you wanna figure out your super? I've got a sheet of brawler's iron with your name on it, kiddo." Pam turned to her father with a big smile on her face.</p>
<p>"Can I, Pops?" Her father looked over her head at his wife.</p>
<p>"Well? Can she, John?" She said.</p>
<p>He sighed and shrugged. "Why not. Just make it short, Del, I'm hungry." Pam cheered, and Delilah went off to go grab the sheet of metal. A minute later, it was propped against the wall across from a very determined looking Pam.</p>
<p>"Scrap attack!" She braced herself as the slight pushback from her weapon forced her back half an inch. The first piece of shrapnel seemed to fly towards the sheet of metal in slow motion. When it hit, she didn't feel much different. A bit more energized, but not mind-numbingly changed. After the second it took her attack to finish, her super wasn't fully loaded, so she fired off another attack.</p>
<p>She could definitely tell when her super was fully charged. Her entire left side suddenly felt warm, and there was an itch in her hand. It took a great deal of mental energy to walk over to her parents to demonstrate her super, instead of just activating it then and there.</p>
<p>"Ready?" her mom asked.</p>
<p>"Ready." She took a deep breath and put her left hand over her hip, still holding her weapon in her right. She pressed the button and felt a handle shoot into her hand. As if she had done it a million times before, she reeled back and lobbed the bright red toolbox into the air.</p>
<p>"Repair, reuse, recycle!" She shouted. The box arced through the air, landed exactly where she had aimed, and popped open after just a beat of delay. Some sort of device was sitting in the box, projecting a bright green medical cross into the air above it.</p>
<p>Her mother made a confused noise, but her father seemed to know what it was almost instantly.</p>
<p>"It's a healing turret?" he asked, looking at Pam to confirm. His face lit up when she nodded, and he scooped her up into his arms again when she did.</p>
<p>"It's a healing turret! I knew you would take after me somehow! You're a healer!" Her mother snorted and held up three fingers, starting a countdown. On one, she pointed at her husband, who gasped loudly. "I should teach you medical techniques!" He whispered excitedly, making Pam giggle.</p>
<p>"Wait until after dinner, Mr. EMT. I thought you were hungry." Her father put her down quickly and stood up with his hands on his hips.</p>
<p>"Ah! Of course! Come, family, we celebrate with a great feast!"</p>
<hr/>
<p>"Hey, you're a brawler, right?" Asked Pam Junker, age eleven. She was sitting on a bench next to a mole girl who had her hand on a braille book as she stared off into space. At least, Pam assumed she was staring at nothing, but she couldn't tell with the large sunglasses the other girl was wearing.</p>
<p>"No. The fur is just an aesthetic choice." Pam chuckled, and the girl cracked a soft smile. "My name is Molly Aarden. What's yours?"</p>
<p>"Pamela Junker, but you can call me Pam." Molly nodded.</p>
<p>"So, Pam, are you a brawler?"</p>
<p>"Yeah, actually." Molly turned her head and closed her book, keeping a finger at her page.</p>
<p>"Really?"</p>
<p>"Yeah!" Molly smiled again and readjusted her sunglasses.</p>
<p>"I have a good feeling about you, Pam Junker."</p>
<hr/>
<p>"Molly, if I can do it, so can you!"</p>
<p>"Pam, you are a child prodigy who has full use of all her senses. I am a nearly blind idiot fifteen-year-old. There's a bit of a difference." Pam Junker, who was also fifteen at the time, made a psh noise and grinned at her friend.</p>
<p>"Molly, you're one of the best brawlers I know! Just put your goggles on and get in there! I believe in you!"</p>
<p>"Pam," Molly started, leaning against the wall, "I'm not you. I'm not this amazing healer with absolutely amazing stats. I'm a short ranged, dime-a-dozen heavyweight who can barely see to aim. You honestly think the single best youth brawl agency in the country is going to take me over someone like you?"</p>
<p>"Yep!" Pam replied. "You're interesting, you're cool under pressure, you know how to use your attacks really well, and you can tunnel!" Pam slung an arm around Molly's shoulder. "Name one brawler you know that can tunnel. One!" Molly giggled and bumped her head into Pam's.</p>
<p>"Thanks for that." Molly turned to walk into the building, then turned at the last second. "If I don't get in, you're helping me with the school work I missed!"</p>
<p>"Deal!"</p>
<p>A week later, both Pam and Molly received their letters of acceptance into Fighter's Academia, and Pam barely resisted an "I told you so".</p>
<hr/>
<p>"Hello ladies. My friend and I were wondering if we could treat you two to lunch." A red-headed boy asked Pam and Molly, both seventeen. He had a friend standing behind him, a boy with reddish-brown hair who was looking at Pam very nervously.</p>
<p>"Can I ask why?" Molly asked, somehow managing to glare at both boys at once despite being able to see neither of them. The boy in back shrunk under her gaze, but the one in front seemed to preen.</p>
<p>"Well, miss, my friend Aidriu back there-"</p>
<p>"Warren!"</p>
<p>"-decided to become absolutely infatuated with you," He said, nodding at Pam. "So, I decided I would shoot my shot-" -he grabbed Molly's hand, bowed down, and planted a kiss to her knuckles- "With your friend. Warren Price, at your service, Miss-"</p>
<p>"Molly." She grumbled, blushing furiously. Warren stood up straight and gave her an award winning smile.</p>
<p>"Well, Miss Molly, it is a true pleasure to meet you." As Warren talked to Molly, Aidriu walked up to Pam and held out a hand.</p>
<p>"Aidriu O'Riley." Pam took his hand and shook it.</p>
<p>"Pam Junker. Your friend said you were infatuated with me?"</p>
<p>Aidriu blushed. "I mentioned that I thought you were cute, and Warren is a bit of a drama queen," He said, his accent coming out strong.</p>
<p>"You aren't exactly an eyesore, if it makes you feel any better. Also, are you Scottish?"</p>
<p>"Irish."</p>
<p>"Cool!" They stood in relative silence for a few more seconds before Molly suddenly screeched, causing both Pam and Aidriu to jump.</p>
<p>"We should separate them."</p>
<p>"Agreed."</p>
<hr/>
<p>"So, ladies, what do you say? You in?" The head of the American Brawl Circuit asked twenty-year-olds Pam and Molly.</p>
<p>Pam weighed her options, and could practically sense Molly doing the same. Her friend was fidgeting next to her.</p>
<p>Pam receded into her own mind. She first thought of her fiance and what he would want, but she would want her to take the job. So would her parents, and all her friends. Except maybe...</p>
<p>"Molly?" Her friend turned to her and gave her a big grin.</p>
<p>"Let's do it." Pam grinned.</p>
<p>"Alright, we're in."</p>
<hr/>
<p>Every part of her being was screaming as she stared at what used to be Molly. An arm was sticking out of the gap, but that was all that was visible of her. A large wall had begun to sink back into the ground, and the mole girl had been under it when it did.</p>
<p>Pam would later learn that she had been crushed immediately, and died about thirty seconds later.</p>
<p>Pam could distantly tell that she was crying, feeling reduced to the age of three, even though she had recently hit twenty-seven. Someone arrived to pull her off the field, and a few minutes later, her husband, her Aidriu, was on one side of her, and Warren was on the other. She just pulled them closer as she wept for her friend.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Time moves from tragedy, and people get older.</p>
<p>In the weeks that followed Molly's death, Pam threw herself into work. When she wasn't brawling, she was trying to develop new, better tech to prevent another death like Molly's. She only came out of her workroom to eat and fight, and that was on rare occasions. Aidriu could tell she was wasting away.</p>
<p>Eventually, it got to the point where he needed to bring in the reinforcements: One Mr. Colton Price.</p>
<p>His young nephew had decided to wear a cape and mask, to match his "hero work". Diane had just shaken her head at her son's antics, but Warren seemed pleased with himself.</p>
<p>"Alright, Colt, ready to go save Aunty Pam?"</p>
<p>"Yeah!" And without another second of thought, he dashed into the room. After a second, they heard shrieks of laughter, and then Pam came out of her workroom.</p>
<p>She looked like a mess; her hair was barely half-up, and she had bags under her eyes. But she was smiling, and still strong enough to keep a squirming Colt under one arm. She set him down, and the smile stayed on her face as he ran up to his father and demanded an ice cream payment for his services.</p>
<p>"Warren has his hands full with that one," Pam said quietly. Aidriu nodded.</p>
<p>"Yes he does."</p>
<p>She sighed and leaned against him.</p>
<p>"I'm sorry."</p>
<p>"Don't be, you're coping."</p>
<p>"It's no excuse for being so absent." Aidriu planted a kiss on her forehead.</p>
<p>"You're here now." Pam smiled even wider.</p>
<p>"That I am."</p>
<p>"And now we-" he gestured to the Prices, then himself- "-can help you heal."</p>
<p>"Thank you."</p>
<p>"Pam, did you give my kid a gun?" Pam and Aidriu shared a look. Aidriu tipped his head towards Warren, and Pam rolled her eyes.</p>
<p>"Of course not! Is your kid a brawler?" Aidriu grinned as his wife walked away to chase down Colt, who now held dual revolvers and was running around shouting "Pew!".</p>
<p>As she ran, she seemed to grow more animated, as if she were coming back to life after weeks of mourning. When she finally managed to grab Colt, the boy turned and unleashed an attack that hit her directly between the eyes. She just laughed and picked the kid up to deposit him at his parent's feet.</p>
<p>Pam Junker was back, and she was here to stay.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And guess who else is back! On a serious note, I really hope you guys liked the fluffy bits of this chapter, because we only have the Jessie chapter (which may not even end up happening lol) between us and the Price arc, which is going to be angsty as all-get-out. So, just...mentally brace for that. But it's gonna be hype! Also, if you're mad at me for killing off Molly, y'all were TOLD she was going to die. Way back in Bull interlude, but still. This was inevitable.</p>
<p>Thank you, please keep reading, and goodnight!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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